For example, even at a tech driven company such as Id Software, apparently John Carmack had to put a serious effort to convince the studio to stick to 60 fps for Rage. Luckily he is in a position where he can probably just veto any other option, but that's rarely the norm at other studios where the tech team is most likely not running the show.
What team is running the show then? The game design team? The art/graphics assets team? If these choices are not based on what people actually thinks looks and plays good (and what kind of development resources you have available), what are they based on? Ease of development?