I used to think like that for Eromancer, now I'm firmly of the opinion that 'sharing of the cake' is the problem. Put simply hiring animators for new H and general sprite actions (combat/movement etc). Neat graphic effects, programming features, concept art/3d renders and new unanimated models are a lot cheaper/easier than animations. Especially high quality/long animations.As outlandish as it sounds, it's likely that they actually don't know how to progress and actively avoid hiring more people to not share the cake (since I've seen a certain big-scale commercial project being done like that - it failed REALLY badly). This thought is even more terrifying than active scamming since it's like we have a bus without a driver and brakes.
As it seems that all animations are outsourced, that is where sharing of the cake comes in. The irony is this could easily be my favourite fighting game, and I love Ero's art style.