Krieg, It isn’t that I don’t what the release meant and it isn’t that I don’t understand the way AH writes stuff and even supports the products that Larry and you make, sadly, I understand all too well. What I was trying to point out was what was implied in the release. There is a big difference between what is implied and what is meant there and for many people they just won’t grasp the differences because they haven’t been around.
It is a customer issue. When customers expect something from a product and what they believe they were supposed to get, and then don’t, then you have angry customers on your hands. Simply telling them that they are wrong will not help, it only makes them more discontent, with the product and the salesperson/company/etc.
Take for instance that the release cites AA50, well, since that was a limited run that is over, and they can’t even get the rules from the AH website, citing that as the basic framework for the new game really means little to many people who are thinking about spending $80ish (American) for a game. They can compare it to AAP, and they see the Australian forces now simply being renamed as ANZAC, which doesn’t truly make them a new power, and they know what China had before and now will see only artillery as new pieces, but they thought it was much more.
Truly I point out these things not to just throw the ‘negative waves’ out there because that is the opposite of what I want to be doing. (the avatar doesn’t just look nice, eh). I’ve enjoyed these games for many, many years and it’s sad to see customers turned against companies, (maybe not so much AH, but you and Larry) because of poor advertising and support when they shoot themselves in the foot. I have dealt with customers for years and have picked up a thing or two about business and people. They may not always apply, but sometimes yes. Lose the customers’ trust, you lose the customers and I don’t think that there is a certainty that this demographic is busting at the seams in growth.