Of course, you can and many companies do that. If you have a long term project that is supposed to run for 10 years but your funding is not fixed and dependent on sales plus you have limited initial funding then you do what you can with resources you have to release ASAP to stay financially afloat, and once you make a profit you reinvest to improve your product. That’s what they’re doing.
Edit: Yes it is shady tactics, but that is what many companies do