diff --git a/apps/ai-game-creator-shell/src-tauri/src/agent/runtime_state.rs b/apps/ai-game-creator-shell/src-tauri/src/agent/runtime_state.rs
index 938f4f82e..30fb3866c 100644
--- a/apps/ai-game-creator-shell/src-tauri/src/agent/runtime_state.rs
+++ b/apps/ai-game-creator-shell/src-tauri/src/agent/runtime_state.rs
@@ -2403,13 +2403,17 @@ pub(super) fn try_acquire_game_creator_agent_runtime_task_lock_with_wait(
     root: &Path,
     agent_id: &str,
 ) -> Result<Option<AgentRuntimeTaskLock>, String> {
-    for attempt in 0..25 {
+    // Runtime state transitions can persist several audit projections while holding
+    // the lane lock. Keep the wait bounded, but allow a slow CI/disk-backed
+    // transition to finish before reporting a false busy error.
+    const MAX_ATTEMPTS: usize = 100;
+    for attempt in 0..MAX_ATTEMPTS {
         if let Some(runtime_lock) =
             try_acquire_game_creator_agent_runtime_task_lock(root, agent_id)?
         {
             return Ok(Some(runtime_lock));
         }
-        if attempt < 24 {
+        if attempt + 1 < MAX_ATTEMPTS {
             std::thread::sleep(Duration::from_millis(10));
         }
     }