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Those are interesting statements regarding the longevity of the project, but their actions don't seem to match what you are driving at, or at least in no logical form. Let's say sales are drying up a bit and they are considering the future down the line from now. Why trash a perfectly functioning interface and replace it with something half-baked right before the payday of season 6? Why change it at all, really? Old customers can't even access the videos they purchased, let alone play the five seasons they invested in within a reasonable comfort factor. If they are pinching pennies to extend their financial horizons, why tackle something so enormous when the gains are so minute and the risk runs so high?Looking ahead, they have relied on Kickstarter for a number of tables with great success. The licensing is obviously expensive, as are the salaries, lease, utilities and other factors in the mix; we get it. As they have created over 70 replicas and have that down to a science, they could always create original tables with the experience thus gained and try that route for an experiment instead of tearing apart components that already work. I would be interested to see what they could design with all that knowledge with a series of hypothetical tables that 'could have been'. Cutting out the licensing fees from that series would increase profits to help bolster the coffers for the future. If Zen can do it, I know for a fact Farsight can design old-school tables that would fit into their philosophy. Just an example of other options that would have left a better taste in the mouth than sabotaging what they already had.Secondly, the product will remain no matter what they decide to do internally. There are hundreds more tables that can be considered for creation...and launching these single-table products with IAP (Android) was a huge waste of time as people obviously rejected them (Ghostbusters) as they don't want to pay per play. These are pit stops that shouldn't have transpired. It's like things are going so well as is, but they stay up all night thinking of clever ways to veer off course simply to mix things up out of boredom. Their production schedule has been solid for a long time now, why mess with something that works?Now they have a PR problem that has spiraled out of control and there's no easy way to fix that except wait for new users to come in to replace the old. That isn't bolstering the fan base any, that is a transfusion of customers. I have read quite a few times in Android reviews so far, and it applies so well here; if it ain't broken, don't fix it. It's not so much that the UI killed functionality and charm, there are lots of bugs left behind with the tables and other things we probably aren't even aware of yet. It was a huge stack of chips on the table that didn't pay off too well, and the customers got the short end of the stick due to whatever highly secretive motives they had.And as for transparency and community interaction, I'm not seeing any. When a company seeks investors to pull in funds, not answering the phone and ignoring that crowd isn't the best business model, either. I really don't understand what's going on over there, but one thing remains clear; a long road lies ahead that will require great patience on both sides to persevere. With this lack of consideration and communication, which side will collapse first? With very little grasp of the logic involved here, and with no explanations given, the users are left in the dark like mushrooms with no clue as to what the future holds for them as customers.
Those are interesting statements regarding the longevity of the project, but their actions don't seem to match what you are driving at, or at least in no logical form. Let's say sales are drying up a bit and they are considering the future down the line from now. Why trash a perfectly functioning interface and replace it with something half-baked right before the payday of season 6? Why change it at all, really? Old customers can't even access the videos they purchased, let alone play the five seasons they invested in within a reasonable comfort factor. If they are pinching pennies to extend their financial horizons, why tackle something so enormous when the gains are so minute and the risk runs so high?
Looking ahead, they have relied on Kickstarter for a number of tables with great success. The licensing is obviously expensive, as are the salaries, lease, utilities and other factors in the mix; we get it. As they have created over 70 replicas and have that down to a science, they could always create original tables with the experience thus gained and try that route for an experiment instead of tearing apart components that already work. I would be interested to see what they could design with all that knowledge with a series of hypothetical tables that 'could have been'. Cutting out the licensing fees from that series would increase profits to help bolster the coffers for the future. If Zen can do it, I know for a fact Farsight can design old-school tables that would fit into their philosophy. Just an example of other options that would have left a better taste in the mouth than sabotaging what they already had.
Secondly, the product will remain no matter what they decide to do internally. There are hundreds more tables that can be considered for creation...and launching these single-table products with IAP (Android) was a huge waste of time as people obviously rejected them (Ghostbusters) as they don't want to pay per play. These are pit stops that shouldn't have transpired. It's like things are going so well as is, but they stay up all night thinking of clever ways to veer off course simply to mix things up out of boredom. Their production schedule has been solid for a long time now, why mess with something that works?
Now they have a PR problem that has spiraled out of control and there's no easy way to fix that except wait for new users to come in to replace the old. That isn't bolstering the fan base any, that is a transfusion of customers. I have read quite a few times in Android reviews so far, and it applies so well here; if it ain't broken, don't fix it. It's not so much that the UI killed functionality and charm, there are lots of bugs left behind with the tables and other things we probably aren't even aware of yet. It was a huge stack of chips on the table that didn't pay off too well, and the customers got the short end of the stick due to whatever highly secretive motives they had.
And as for transparency and community interaction, I'm not seeing any. When a company seeks investors to pull in funds, not answering the phone and ignoring that crowd isn't the best business model, either. I really don't understand what's going on over there, but one thing remains clear; a long road lies ahead that will require great patience on both sides to persevere. With this lack of consideration and communication, which side will collapse first? With very little grasp of the logic involved here, and with no explanations given, the users are left in the dark like mushrooms with no clue as to what the future holds for them as customers.
