Definitely a weird development cycle. Although to be fair they didn't have a clue how to do a 1/10th of what they were promising early on. Been a long road of making mistakes and learning from what I can see. They do seem to be getting on top if it.
Just a huge amount of wasted work in between. But without the shiny shiny trailers and artwork would the money have kept coming in? Probably not.
Who knows, maybe this is the only way a fairly pioneering game like this can be made?
I was happy enough to take the punt they could pull it off. I think engine wise they soon will have. Still be very easy to trip on the last step and deliver an over complicated game that isn't fun!