Until now Keiran I had been thinking that your concerns & boycott calls etc. were a bit.... over the top. But I wake up this morning (Australian time) and it looks like all of the worst case scenarios are coming true despite assurances to the contrary. I regret that I now find myself in complete agreement with you.... looks like you (despite being slapped down by Donald X. a few times) have been the most clear sighted of any of us.
Eh, I wouldn't call myself "clear-sighted" exactly. I'm a pragmatist, and I try to work on evidence. In this case, given the evidence, the most optimistic viewpoint was that we would have something pretty but, in many ways, worse than isotropic. The long-term optimistic view was that things would improve as we moved forward.
New evidence has come to light. Major venture capital, huge amounts spent on gobbling up exclusive game licenses, and monetization schemes... and on the flip side a bungled launch, gaping security flaws, and a massive PR disaster. This is not even judgment on my part, this is just the basic evidence.
And that evidence not only makes things look bad for the future of online Dominion, but also for the future of online board gaming in general. We have a bunch of licenses locked up by a company that makes amateurs look good in comparison. Right now the
optimistic view is that, in a few days, things will be cobbled back together, and we'll have something still worse than isotropic, but run by a company that failed at its most critical moment, and lost a huge number of potential customers in less than two days. And that assumes they'll take care of the security problems, etc., ASAP.
The pessimistic viewpoint has two paths. One is extremely dark, as it involves Goko locking up these licenses and not developing them properly, and that lasting for who knows how long. That effectively kills online play for major RGG and Mayfair titles for N years. The other is actually brighter; it involves Goko folding completely, the licenses reverting to the manufacturers, a bunch of venture capitalists getting shafted, and going back to amateurs developing the online implementations again.
That last path might even involve RGG, Mayfair, and the like, waiting for someone to actually
show them a working product, then licensing it.
Perhaps that last is actually the optimistic scenario, actually.
I have a feeling Jay Tummelson, Pete Fenlon, Larry Roznai, and the other game execs are feeling a bit blindsided right now. I would guess Donald is too; I don't think this was his expectation either.