It takes the same amount of time and effort to introduce any plane (mind you different amounts for different categories, heavy bomber vs single fighter).
Putting in some rare, never-saw-service, never-carried-weapons, never-saw-the-enemy idiotic prototypes IS a waste of time. [Edit; Not talking about Do335, but many of the prototype requests we get here, in general]
Period.
End of sentence.
Because they have just wasted their time and the opportunity to create something "worthy." And yes, some planes are far more worthy of mention in regards to WW2 aviation than others.
Imagine if HTC were in the planning stages of releasing AH and were about to start their first plane... Is it the P-51? No. The iconic and cannot-be-ignored-bf109? No... What if they started on the Me209? A plane with almost no relevance in WW2, saw no action and was never armed because it was a political stunt to win international speed records?
Wouldn't you agree that there very definitely ARE planes that are worthy, and planes that are NOT worthy?
Time is only time, but once wasted it's gone. Perhaps wasted is too harsh. I'd say more "opportunies ignored, changes to get better things done passed by, etc"
So all the time they spent wasting on some prototype that never-was, they could have spent on a Ki43 (for example). Sure, they still can spend yet more time and still do the Ki43, but that could/would/should have already been here by now. It's all a matter of proper time management on a project. HTC has their own ideas (whatever they may be) and they seem to be aimed at set ideals.
Prototypes don't fall under those ideals.