There will always be 'noise' - 'you can't please all the people, all the time' -- But this is not a reason to do a full on retreat, unless you are so thin-skinned you can't face any criticism. I don't think that is a concern here. Dialog usually fills in the gaps, but 'hit and run' snips usually leave big gaps people try to fill in themselves. Meaningful engagement with credible points, not retreat, is how you build confidence.
Quoted from Mr68:I know from running my own business over the years, the difficult and tough decisions are NEVER popular or welcomed.
Sure, but do you try to hide those decisions, or do you inform and try to align the stakeholders on why this was the best option? I don't think Haggis (or any other) should lay their business guts on the table and be ran by the mob... but 'the hunker in the bunker method' is not the only way, and certainly not a very popular way when you are building boutique products for a specialized market.
Quoted from Mr68:This past comparison to Heighway Pinball that got very loud, was nothing but lowbrow drama. A more fair comparison for Haggis would be to Dutch Pinball. Don't forget, Dutch Pinball went completely dark for YEARS with ZERO games going out. Was it 4 years they went dark?
And now Dutch Pinball is a respectable company to those same people that once yelled the loudest at them
Nah, they proved they would follow-through on their commitment by shipping a significant # of games to EAs. But everyone is still operating with, at most, a promise with loose obligations and a long way to go before all EAs are made whole. Dutch have shown their resolve no doubt, but everyone is still running with a very high risk of exposure. People are giving them slack as they continue to hope to fall on the good side of the line. There is still lots of 'give and take' when dealing with DPL because people know things are thin and getting 'some resolution' is better than none... even if it costs you more out of pocket then it should.
I mean.. do a simple litmus test for Haggis. They have shipped what we expect is a few dozen games yeah? Imagine if next month they dropped a video reveal for their next game and were taking non-refundable deposits for that game. Would consensus be to rush to it without hesitation? Or would people still be hesitate with concerns about the timing, viability and delivery timelines?
Shipping games is solid progress... be it Haggis or Dutch... but shipping games alone is not the magic wand that makes everything to a happy spot where they can ensure steady success and be 'respectable' as you put it. We are at the 'crawl' stage here.. I hope we see Haggis continue to progress beyond that.