You know in the angry birds era (and generally in mobile games era where all games need to look appealing to everyone, even the most casual gamer ever) a lot of indie devs started to think they had to create cute appealing girlie-awe-insipiring stylized graphics even when that would not be the best fit for a given game genre and would completely compromise player immersion.
Another reason for this is that this kind of asset is way easier to implement than full blow realistic 3D models and environment.
In the end it's all about that, sacrifying game immersion so to be appealing for casual gamers who are not interested in game immersion and could even be put off by that because it contributes to let them think game is harder to play because it's not 'just a game'.
But not all games ask for "full blow realistic 3D models and environments". You have plenty of indie titles (Stealth Bastard, Super Meat Boy, Hotline Miami) for which "stylized graphics" in 2D are essential. Another example is Apotheon [1]: even if I'm not that fond of the gameplay, I wouldn't trade their stunning 2D graphics for any kind of 3D.
Where exactly did I say all games need full blown 3D graphics?
I am just saying that for this kind of games, where the hype/fun/immersion is all about how much fine-grained procedurally generated spatial/life details you can get, to make it all look cartonish style it's a bit simplistic and not up to the capability/deepness/complexity of the ecosystem engine they are proud to market.
To me it's just a bit of riding the trend because indie devs know very well that nowadays cute looking cartoonish indie games are well praised and boosted by mobile app stores whose ratings are driven by casual gamers looking before everything else for cute bleeps and rainbowish color splashes!
Anyway this is just my little opinion and I am sure it is incomplete and does not encompass all the aspects there are to it. Just see it as a starter for a more in-depth conversation, if you wish.
Provided you will take a 360 degrees approach to it :)
I think it's important to distinguish between "crappy graphics" and "stylized graphics". You can get away with a lot as long as you have great art direction. And this won't sacrifice immersion. On the other hand, you can make terrible-looking games with the best engines.
