Why isn’t FMV more common?

[killamch89]

FMV faded partly because it often felt more like watching a movie than playing a game, which clashed with the growing desire for interactivity in gaming. That said, modern FMV titles like Her Story and Telling Lies show how the format can thrive when paired with strong storytelling and meaningful player choices. Maybe it’s more about finding the right balance between interactivity and narrative.

[Shagger]

The main reason FMV isn't used anymore is simply because high quality FMV files take up too much space.  I once modded Final Fantasy XIII to upgrade the resolution of the cut scenes (that were digitally animated FMV videos) from 720p to 1080p and the game took up 90GB more space.  That's a game from 2009.  Even the standard game unmodified on Steam takes up more than 50GB and it's because of the cut scenes.

 

There are other things like how the difference between cut scenes graphics and in-game graphics can be jarring, the cost of producing such videos and that the improvements we've seen in motion capture and game rendered ani actions have made FMV unnecessary.  But basically, it's mostly a technical and cost issue.