One of the biggest problems with modern game development is that once you're already developing assets and writing code for specific sequences and features of the game, there isn't much, if any room for changes of any real note.
2K specifically as a company has dealt with several projects that were tossed out and rebuilt several times over, either because the concept/pre-production phase wasn't properly implemented before development was already underway, designers got starry-eyed when looking at contemporaries/new ideas during development, or lack of conviction with initial ideas, thus erasing a lot of progress made along the way.
It's why producers are very important and need to be able to put their foot down. It might clash with artistic aspirations and vision, but when you as a studio head have accepted a $50+ million dollar responsibility from a parent company, I feel you've signed off on that idea long ago. Remember how they had a preview for Bioshock Infinite 3 fucking years before it came out? And that was AFTER the actual project was announced to the public.
Regarding this blog post - I'm sure there is blame to be given to 2K, but only insofar as their willingness to allow Irrational and companies such as 2K Czech to run their operation without more scrutiny. I know this post might read like I'm trying to defend 2K or publishers at large for a lot of issues with big games, but to say it's a very one-sided endeavor is presumptive.
And I might be mistaken, but I remember hearing that projects such as Sleeping Dogs, TR 2013 and Hitman Absolution had insane sales projections to make up for Square-Enix's other losses, from games such as FF XIV, the FF XIII and Versus/FFXV saga. Oh yea, and the Luminous/White Engine which seemingly went nowhere and look to have been massive money- and timesinks. In that regard, SE more than happily deserves blame for putting undue pressure on devs for their own fuck-ups as a company.
