This is only partially true, and not relevant in most cases. In game development, my primary field of expertise, the notion of a static codebase is largely a m

This is only partially true, and not relevant in most cases. In game development, my primary field of expertise, the notion of a static codebase is largely a myth until the project nears completion. Most projects span several years, during which the code undergoes continuous evolution. In this context, code must be as fluid/malleable as possible, because its entire structure is likely to change several times, to add and remove features, to improve performance, to fix bugs and sometimes for even deeper rework. If the already written code is hard to read, these iterative modifications become unnecessarily arduous.