I'm honestly of two minds about this kind of stuff. On the one hand, I do think that consumers have a point about disliking publishers misleading us and then refusing to own up to it. Like even now, when they're addressing the controversy, it should be simple to just make an honest assessment that acknowledges that while they are proud of what they have accomplished, they were not able to match what they showed in the Sword of Destiny trailer. The customers yelling the loudest often just want any small victory in terms of coaxing PR people to be more transparent. It shouldn't be that difficult to own what happened and still express pride in the final product. When someone is producing a side-by-side comparison where Exhibit B looks noticeably worse than Exhibit A, Johnny PR should be able to acknowledge that in a manner that doesn't sound like they're admitting that the final product is terrible. Patronizing concerned customers like that isn't good PR.
On the other hand, I do grow increasingly tired of consumers who just seem to want to be cynical about everything. Like, no matter how minor the content, if there's anything like retailer-exclusive pre-order bonuses, or announced DLC, or any hint of bullshots, or any of a myriad of other things that are just commonplace and really not worth getting outraged about, you can count on any of a number of people who are going to express their disdain for these practices they don't like. And they'll do it across 50 threads about the game because by golly being cynical and saying things like "I'm not going to let publishers bend me over a barrel and have their way with me" in reference to $60 video games that will drop in price quickly if one can exercise patience makes them cooler than all of you other sheeples who'll eat up whatever your corporate overlords tell you to.
