2D games can require a lot of assets. And most programmers are not artists.

Also, 2D assets are much more difficult to change later if you decide you need to change the aspect ratio or scaling later on. While a tile map is comparatively technically simple, the initial choice of tile size carries a rather critical importance to how the game development process unfolds. If you want or need to change it later it is likely going to be a fair amount of work, and that friction can hinder a lot of experimentation. Compare this to a 3d camera, that affords you the ability to completely change perspective with a few lines of code, it’s evident that a 2d game is not necessarily simpler to develop in practice.

It is the exact reason why I choose to make my game in 3D. I am making a game similar to advance wars/apes warfare in threejs. My drawing skills are close to zero but thanks to the engineering background my CAD and 3D modeling are somewhat usable. So I am currently learning blender to improve on top of that and I cannot fathom how much more time it would have taken me to make assets if those were to be in 2D.

Everyone is an artist. We're just not all equally skilled.

> 2D games can require a lot of assets. And most programmers are not artists.

That's just as true, if not moreso, with "3" in place "2".

Conversely, 2D games can also require very little in assets. It's just a matter of what game you are making.