I think that's a big element of this. The sort of quality bar we see in StarCraft or WarCraft III would come across as kit-bashing or stylized low-budget indie

I think that's a big element of this. The sort of quality bar we see in StarCraft or WarCraft III would come across as kit-bashing or stylized low-budget indie today. Shipping a AAA-style game in a timely fashion needs a larger production process than earlier works. The sort of issues around engineering and linked-lists[1] in the original StarCraft wouldn't really be an issue today. Teams are operating in a very different way. [1] https://www.codeofhonor.com/blog/tough-times-on-the-road-to-starcraft https://www.codeofhonor.com/blog/tough-times-on-the-road-to-...