Ok, gave it some time to hear things out.
Here's the rub:
After a game is 1.0, I am of the opinion you should evaluate a game based on how that is. What I mean is that the game can evolve after this point, but from the buying perspective, one should never assume a plethora of game changing content will occur.
If the game delievers initially what it says it will, well, then you have bought the game for what it was. If you thought the game would be more, then buyer beware and wait to see if desired changes come about. Unless the game says beta, you have no moral expectation that the game will evolve. It could, for sure, but that pesky 1.0 sign is there for a reason. If at any point you like the game enough to buy, great! If not, wait! But don't expect the game to change to your liking. The programmer has no obligation to do so. They really don't. They made their game like they said they would, they said they'd do some additions, but after some additions without additional pay most models indicate a paid expansion or stop updating.
AI war would not nearly have expanded and changed as much as it did without expansions. Why Terraria did not do expansions to help fund additional ideas I don't know. But if the game delivered what it explicitly promised it would then it's the buyer's problem that they bought a quote unquote finished game that wasn't to their taste. If the game promised, explictly, specific things the game would do but later did not then that is the programers fault. But vague extra updates are not a smart reason to buy a game that is not satsifying on its own. This studio did not develop a reputation like Arcen did for updates. To expect this reputation and updates seems to set one up to fail.
It wasnt that the game wasnt good on it's own..... it was that, bizarrely, and unlike most sandboxy games, it just runs out of value INSTANTLY the moment you've done all of the major stuff. Once you've defeated all of the bosses and have the best tools.... that's it. Alot of players stop at this point.
Not to mention that, again, the devs said they'd be keeping with the updates for some time...... so someone mighta bought it based on that, thinking "Well, I hear it has no replay value right now..... but if they're gonna do alot of updates, that'll probably change later on.... ok, I'll buy!".
And regardless of wether or not it looks like it's "the buyer's problem", it..... kinda isnt. It becomes the developer's problem BECAUSE that person with the "buyer's problem" is unlikely to come back to the company.... and these are things a smart developer will think of WAY ahead of time. If they werent ABSOLUTELY 100% CERTAIN that they were going to keep up the updates for quite awhile to come, they never should have said so, or even hinted at it. They shoulda said, "Yeah, there might be a couple of updates after launch, but that's it". Because they didn't, it's GOING to affect sales. It doesnt have to make sense, and it doesnt matter if it's the buyer's fault, because the end result is another lost customer each time. Now, if they say that with this next game, there's gonna be people NOT buying it, because they said so but didn't do it with this one.
There's alot of bloody stupid crap in there, but that's how it goes.
They might still do decently enough with their next game, but chances are they wont do as well as they COULD have if they'd kept Terraria going as well like they said they would. And the "not enough manpower" arguement doesnt work here.... if THATS the case..... they need to hire more before branching off into other projects. If they DONT..... that's their fault. And as I understand it, they didn't do this..... so the next game's updates are likely to be just as slow-as-freaking-dirt as Terraria's were, in terms of how long they take to come out.
