For a publisher it can make sense to throw garbage on the market. No trial version and no reviews at launch time are good indications for that. Just to get a quick buck/euro until everybody realized how bad the product actually is (STEAM definitely needs to introduce refunding). One publisher cancels crappy projects and nobody will ever hear about it, other publishers just put it on the market.
JA:BiA had a trial version and everybody could test the game before spending money (one reason why calling JA:BiA shovelware is fundamentally wrong). And that's why I would always defend JA:BiA despite all trouble with bitComposer.
But for developers (especially small studios), releasing an unfinished bugfest can be a total desaster. It ruins your biography, it ruins your team motivation and you will lose your original intention to make games at all. In many case you will lose your company or job as well.
And most important of all: as developer you invest so much energy, time and passion into a game, seeing all this work going down the toilet can be very frustrating.
I am very sorry for the devs of Citadels, no matter if the incomplete state of their game was their fault (probably) or not.
All very true, and all part of the reason why I'm loathe to place any blame. I can fully understand the motivation of both parties in this case, and unless some new information surfaces, that's going to be my guiding star.
The only thing I take issue with here is the lack of even an attempt at finding agreement. That's because I, as primarily a fan and staff member of this site, am interested in one thing above all; the release of quality games. Thus my main concern now is why a deal cannot be worked out, and who is blocking conversation. I don't have faith in a new project because frankly, that sounds like a pipedream to me.
But I would like to ask you all these questions and more in a more official capacity, like I said. It's great you want to divulge this information, but most people won't see it buried on page 8 of this thread.
