>>11976190
Frankly, I think it wasn't just limited to games. Like I said, Matrix and LotR set the tone for the whole decade. Lots of movies looked brown, see picrel that looks like RE5. It was the era of Linkin Park, kids listened to emo, post hardcore, etc.. And this era kicked in even harder afterwards with Nolan's Batman popularizing "gritty & realistic" stuff.
And honestly, I can't blame the video game industry anyway. GTA trilogy and Halo sold gazillions, showing everyone what gamers in the West wanted, and killed platformers and bright games. Besides, your average American dude bro always thought that colors were gay. 80s were more like an exception when wrestlers and rock stars wore neon pink, hence the games looked like that