When I was preparing for a private talk Netflix asked me to do for its employees that would pull from my research on storytelling in video games (isn't that a super weird thing to say?), it got me thinking about why cutscenes in games once felt rewarding when now they feel boring. Here's my theory:
Cutscenes feel rewarding when they portray an exciting climax, story twist, or cliffhanger. But too many games use them primarily for intros and exposition. Players don't want a long intro to a level, they want to get to the gameplay. But they love to feel rewarded with a big moment.
TMNT arcade is a favorite example. Beating a level gives you a momentary feeling of success, followed by a twist that tells you "we're not out of this yet!" And it manages to communicate it in singular still images rather than an entire scene.
