Ah, thanks. Broader point taken.
Aye, that’s a bunch of professional critics whose tone will be a far cry from the dumpster fire diatribes of large, vocal minority consumers. I’m confident even Pitchfork wouldn’t fire off ‘KILL YOURSELF’ or ‘WHY ISN’T THIS FREE’, though it appears they did skewer Timberlake in that quote, so…
I think there’s a ‘stress arc’ difference too between releasing an album (or book or movie or other ‘static’ creation) and it standing on its own at birth, and a game (or other software) that will inevitably fall over in various unexpected ways while it’s supported, made more stable and grows. Dealing with entitled juvenile shitheads on top of that ongoing pressure I would expect takes its toll on creators in a way that’s unique to software development. That’s my gut feeling at least and probably why that piece from Morgan Jaffit is doing the rounds.
Anyway, this is all waaay off topic now.