I say it was another case of a Dev having no clue what a harem means. While he still is checking this forum his last post was last November page 15 first post check it out if you want but it doesn't say much.
Yeah, I checked those posts and he even says that harem is the main plot branch but, shit it is as you say. While I am not as big a harem fan as you are (I mean, I am but you take the cake

). What bothers me more is the new style of harem VNs that feel more like voyeuristic VNs than an actual MC centric VN. The way I see it is that any story that develops that way kills the characters in two ways.
Firstly the more visceral way, almost none wants a slut harem, I count myself in that camp. While it is self-serving and hypocritical (because you will be fucking everything that moves), it is a story about a singular MC. This connects to the second way it kills a character in my opinion.
Secondly it kills any buildup/story telling by wasting it on a NPC. You do not get to keep any mystery/anticipation with that character. By the time that character is a part of the harem you have already seen everything that there was to see. By that point, storywise the character has lost its relevance. Bare in mind that we are playing erotic VNs, sex/erotism is the whole point of it.
If the dev actually pulls the trigger with the whole pimping out the LIs I would say that it was a hugely misrepresentation of the actual plot (going by the comments it appears it has not gotten past just dialogue and future maybes). If the dev have said it is a prostitution and corruption VN (as the title sounds more appropriate for), I would have already played it today. I can get in that frame of mind, same as when I play female MC VNs (those are mostly about debasing the MC). If the dev told us you will corrupt and prostitute the people that might know or have done something to your father, I would have been cool with it and playing right now.
The difference there would be about the focus of the story. If you expect a harem VN you also kinda expect likable MC and LIs to hold the story. If it is a pimp simulator then you expect the focus to be solely on the MC and the LIs (which they are not really) heads can roll. It would be nice of the dev if he says if the supposed LIs are just flesh for our use or if the MC will get more neurons to solve the mystery another way.