- Sep 27, 2017
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I think you're right about the Patrons of Patreon. It could be difficult for even well-meaning critics to speak out & even more so to try & form a concerted bloc to push back, against what has become the new normal for AWAM. There's also the inability to cut financial losses & invest elsewhere, because hope triumphs over the reality & it also involves a degree of admitting a misjudgement.Patrons are a unique bunch. They can be fickle as hell, but every once in a while they can coalesce into a unbreakable community. GumDrop Games LITERALLY did not release a new update for his game for something like three years, and his patron numbers held steady. L&P absolutely has a dedicated core that won't push back on him unless things become extreme. What happens if this update slips to June? I know he said "mid-May at the latest" today, but I think we are right to be suspicious of anything he says. So what happens if it slips to June? Does this end up being the only update this year? If L&P learns that he can put out one update a year and keep his core Patrons together, why wouldn't that become the norm? From my chair, three updates in a year suddenly feels very naive.
If we're talking about a single update for 2021, the fear I have is that L&P is simply losing interest. There's a lot of reasons why he may be losing interest, but putting out even TWO updates in a year raises questions about someone's motivation. If we get down to just a single update in a year, I don't know how we don't start hitting the panic button that the game's development is grinding to a halt.
But, even if that does happen, it'll take years without a new release for this game to officially catch the Abandoned tag.
There must be many dismayed by the way things are but they'll keep on subscribing. It probably is past time for an editor & it occurred to me after I'd posted about this that it could even cause further delays, with the potential for editorial disputes. I'm at a loss for suggestions on what could be done & can only think of that useful American phrase, "It is what it is."