Inviting someone over for dinner is different than selling a product to a consumer. It's absolutely tiresome to go over this, but a consumer should not have to sift through files to find out if you implemented a promised feature discussed even after release. I suggest you continue looking.
Video games are a unique product in that you have many opportunities to get insight into criticisms of a game, you can watch video of the game, you can seriously know almost exactly what you're getting just by doing the slightest amount of research. We're on NeoGAF. We're fiends. It wouldn't be any problem to spend half an hour around release day to consume enough media to get an idea of if you want to buy the game.
You wouldn't have had to "sift through files" to find out if this game implemented every feature you expected. You just had to wait until a few hours after the game was released and go practically ANYWHERE that video games are discussed. This is a hugely ambitious title made by a ridiculously small team with zero track record of similar releases. If you pre-ordered this game and jumped in sight-unseen, then you need to evaluate your buying habits. It doesn't take incredible foresight to recognize those red flags and temper expectations.
Sure, Sean didn't handle things well, but this thing should've never been marketed like it was. I'm not talking about Sean over-promising (although, obviously, he should've just shut up and let the game talk instead of writing all these checks before pay day)... I'm talking about Sony giving this thing big time conference headliner type treatment like this small indie team is about to make a damn system seller out of what is, conceptually, a game you'd expect to be handled by a much larger studio. They pimped the fact that this thing was a console exclusive. From that point on, hype manufacturing was mandatory and, as we now know, there really wasn't all that much to be hyped about.
Also, the game has looked dull from day one. Can we be real about that now, please? It never seemed, to me, like much more than a neat idea that I might spend a few hours in and then never, ever return to.
Always this bullshit. Bu bu bu they tried, why are you so mean to these poor indie developers that just had big dreams!
The fucking VG industry treats consumer like a number, they hunt whales and push the envelope every opportunity they get. They understand it is a business, they are not inviting friends over for a meal, they are charging you $60 of your hard earned money for a product, and in this case lying consistently about it and then disappearing (with all that money) once it gets tough.
You can build a good relationship of trust with customers where they are more willing to understand your woes. Communication is a big part of that, and the only thing Hello Games and Sean have communicated so far is: overpromising things, thanks for your $60, goodbye.
The fucking VG industry treats developers, indie or otherwise, like a number. And so do gamers. It's always funny to see a thread lamenting the misfortune of laid-off devs and how brutal the industry is, then another thread bitching about a game that failed to meet your expectations. You have agency. You were not forced to buy this product before critics and others could get their hands on it. If you bought this game prior to the backlash, you decided to allow marketing make a decision for you, and marketing is almost always bullshit to some extent.
Also, go after Sony. Since so many people seem to be unable to make their buying decisions on anything but manufactured hype and snazzy trailers, direct your anger to the company that tried to prop up a small indie developer as being capable of creating a AAA-caliber console exclusive game. Everyone had an inkling of this being too good to be true. We all thought it, we all said it at some point and we were all right. This never should've been marketed to us as anything more than an interesting upcoming indie game.