Quoted from flynnibus:It's a business choice... which is why I hang that failure on their lack of business plan and sense.
I know some people believe that he's just bad at business. But in my opinion, I think it's much more nefarious.
John isn't as stupid as people make him out to be. He convinced a lot of people to give him a lot of money. He convinced a lot of highly skilled people to work for him for free (didn't Bill mention he paid his overdue rent too?). He convinced a lot of intelligent people to sign ludicrous NDAs to keep them silent. He convinced a lot of people to rush out and defend him any time someone asked a reasonable question on the project. And finally, he paid himself a hefty salary while producing little in return. The fact is that everyone got screwed on this project but him. He's the guy who made a lot of money over the last few years. While I don't believe this was some long con, I do think he's a lot more Keyser Soze than Verbal Kint.
My belief changed when the game was put out at the show. There is no way a man with his experience in the pinball industry could put in 40 hour weeks for 4 years with a large cash reserve and produce so little. We have hobbyists on this board who have built fully functioning games in their basement on weekends in far less time. That's not bad business, it's lack of effort.
He paid himself a lot of money to rent out some space, buy some cool toys, and play arts and crafts for 4 years. Tough to claim he lacks business sense when he's the guy who holds the bag of money at the end.