The Pixel look is a design choice in many cases, though. Some people like it- I'm fine with it as long as they give it really good animation.
Some times I feel like good art direction and style is taking a back-seat to the overly realistic looking games that end up a bit boring (like Watch_Dogs and GTA 5, even though they do have beauty to them). Hell, you can have a realistic design and still have some good art direction, too, but it seems to be diminished recently.
The art style is not my issue, my issue is being charged with a game well above their production value. A simple 2D side stroller (I mean technically) like Limbo required far less resources & cost, then say a full 3D world with animated characters like brother:tales of 2 sons. Both are good games, but I will pay max of 10 bucks for Limbo, but I am willing to pay max of 2o bucks for Brothers.