My guess would be: with the global recession coming they are trying to keep the devs they have. The more a dev knows; the more they can be shifted to other projects and not get laid off. It keeps them in house so they can be shifted back, and not have a learning curve, if they decide to ramp up another project in the future for XI. Also if they do decide to do a remake; the devs will have the knowledge of the new technology to better transfer what they know about the original to the new game. With the out of control pandemic spending most companies did in the last few years, they are scaling back and laying off the people they can do without. If you were one of these devs you would want the opportunity to learn more and make yourself more valuable to the company; instead of polishing off your resume.