That makes SC look even worse. The spent twice as much money on development without even getting to marketing.

Making two games, and the game making is the marketing. The proof of that is in the very topic of the conversation, the funding.

I won't pretend it's not still a lot, but you can't point to another project like this for comprison. GTAV was built by an established team with history of making that kind of game, using an established IP and engine. It is not apples to apples.

You can't point to another project because anything else would have been canceled five years ago

That's the whole point of the project being done this way. It's an unconventional project, publishers weren't interested.