No, the primary "cost" was artists having to fill a world with unlimited textures instead of just filling memory and then having to make due.

The constraint of "limited texture memory budget" also puts a constraint on how much work the artists can do. Remove that constraint lets artists do unlimited work. It might sound like a plus because "freedom!" but it turns into a minus trying to actually ship on time and at budget.

I get that wasn't the point of the article's "cost", but thought it was worth mentioning.

Is this AI?