Honestly, I feel like you pointing this out after even I acknowledged you already stated they weren't happening again makes it feel like you missed the point. The point wasn't the developer edition; that was the tip of the ice berg. The point was there are too many variations and editions when every release is technically a limited edition. So instead of there being a limited edition every time, now you have a limited limited edition on top of it when you have cover variations, collector editions, and other random stuff that you don't know what you're going to get in the end. That is part of the complexity that I was mentioning compared to the simplicity of the early days of your business model. It used to be twice a month, you'd sell two games and that was it. It was predictable and simple. To make things worse, sometimes you'll have cover variations where you can make sure you get each cover some how, then you'll have other cover variations where it's random and there's no guarantee you'll get one of each. That inconsistency also adds complexity because it's unpredictable how you're going to manage to get a set of covers. To top that off you have the miscommunication of how those covers will be distributed that further adds complexity. The complexity you've created from the number of variations and editions is the biggest part of the problem, not simply the fact that there was a one instance of a developer edition. That developer edition just took it one step too far but getting rid of that doesn't solve the rest of the mess.
I understand timing and delays can cause problems but you guys were so adamant that you didn't do preorders because you wanted to sell stock on hand. Suddenly that bold claim stopped but yet you still didn't do preorders. It felt like you were trying to have your cake and eat it too. If you were going to push that model of not taking preorders to sell stock on hand, then you should wait until you have stock on hand before you sell something. Now you're sort of taking preorders but still have that limited window without being able to use preorders as a guide to how many to produce.
We keep hearing this, and I do believe you're trying, but it feels like little progress has been made in the last year. Your website alone could use more work on conveying information. You should be able to find all information through your site, through Twitter, through Facebook, through these forums, etc. You shouldn't have to figure out which source is the right source to go to in order to find the specific information you need. The fracturing of the distribution of the information alone is an area that has not been improved this last year.
I'm still curious about the Switch titles, so I'll still look every now and then to see what's up, but I'm not sure at this point how you could get me to be a regular customer again. I like the concept. I love the idea of game preservation. I just think you pushed things too far to grow your business which has soured this regular customer who has been there since day 1.
