It happens all the time, though, especially when it's an off-label channel (Windows Phone, for example). It's not unusual for a company to decide that it's chea

It happens all the time, though, especially when it's an off-label channel (Windows Phone, for example). It's not unusual for a company to decide that it's cheaper to fund CAPEX for a product than to spin up the managerial infrastructure necessary to handle what they see as a less-important area of development. Just fund the project and bring the vendor back in to keep it updated. (Other reasons: internal politics; belief that an outside vendor can innovate more effectively; multiple failed internal attempts; have some EOFY cash to burn; really really like the vendor's logo.) When the project works out, no one's (usually) the wiser. When it doesn't, you throw the vendor under the bus and let the media back over them -- part of their job is to be a flak jacket for the client. Black Pixel is a very good studio, and it's too bad they have to take their lumps on this. Everyone has a bad project: political infighting, technical constraints, lowballed estimates, unfunded scope creep, failure to vet or make explicit all the necessary assumptions. Or maybe their architect got religion, decamped to a Moldovan monastary, and now refuses to communicate except by illustrated vellum attached to a carrier pigeon. All sorts of stuff can go wrong, but it's still your baby.