There's a huge difference between a commercial success and a design success. The market rewards quality if and only if all other things are equal. It's extremely telling that you think of games only as computerized artifacts and thus couldn't tell me what makes, say, Cosmic Encounter or Cards Against Humanity compelling.

I've spent about a third of my life going back and forth with game designer wannabes and game designers alike, and I think you'd be surprised at how many will recognize the merits of a game where the experience was wooden but the actual mechanics were transparently high quality despite that. Math problems are quite fun, if they're actual problems, and not contrived riddles that pretend to teach math.

You want mass appeal, then yes. You do have to have a high production budget. Or you just put on Doctor Who.