I'm guessing DPC would be wary of directly saying something like that. I'm sure there are still a bunch of his patrons that keep making up excuses like, "Nah, nah. It's because he was doing the special renders. That'll save him some time now. Nah, the new graphics cards just came out so now he has to replace all the ones he bought last year. We'll really be cooking with some gas after that. HE'S BUILDING A WHOLE WORLD, YOU UNGRATEFUL PIGS! PERFECTION TAKES TIME!"
I could see a few of them stopping support if he actually acknowledged one update per year is the established norm now. Probably not enough to even make a dent but enough to hurt his ego.
In terms of public image, there are two options. Directly address the issue and apologize or ignore it/suppress it until it goes away. The former will maybe help keep your reputation intact but might discourage continued support and maybe dissuade potential supporters. The latter will make you look like a giant dildo but eventually there will be new people who'll have no idea about what happened before.
Not saying it's not mostly due to how thin-skinned he can be but the reason I put forth might be an additional factor.
The way he's been going hard for BADIK kind of makes me feel the same. There are also times where I get the impression he's burnt out. It really feels like he's trying to make BADIK his magnum opus. Especially with just the sheer amount of different stuff he's putting into the game.
Might not necessarily mean he's done after BADIK but would he really be down to make another on this large of a scale again? I kind of doubt it.
