AFAIK people like scripting because it's easier, and it makes development cycle faster. But what about when games are shipped. No one expects shipped binaries to be changed, unless there is an update or a DLC. So why developers don't compile their script files before shipping?
Potential benefits:
- Faster run time
- Obfuscating binary a little mode
and I can't think of any possible draw backs.
Examples:
- Civilization 5 had lots of lua scripts inside their assets folder.
- Angry birds also had a lot those scripts along side binary.
- Age of Mythology had lots of xs scripts for their AI.
- Civilization 4 had lots of python scripts.
I'm pretty sure the list could have gotten a lot longer if I had more games installed on my device.