Unshipped code can't break. How is it a liability and not an asset? The money maker is making money and the changes that potentially would interfere with that are held up at the gate. Seems like a good thing from a business perspective.

Code gets stale really fast. Re-gathering context and re-aligning on old code is sometimes more painful than starting from scratch.

It's an investment that is not generating returns. It's inventory sitting on the shelf requiring ongoing maintenance costs but generating no income.