These are just a few words of welcome that I would like to dedicate to you, although it is more than likely that you will never read them. They are personal opinions and suggestions, and I do not intend to be anyone's spokesperson. I have been visiting these forums for some time, more reading than participating due to my difficulties with the English language, and I think that one positive thing I have always seen here so far has been that we have all been able to express our opinions, either in a more favourable or more critical way towards the company and its products. We have had freedom of speech, always within the bounds of good manners, but DTG has never closed a thread when the sentiment of the thread was not favourable towards them. Not only that, but they have always been grateful for constructive criticism because, according to them, it has helped them to improve. In the last few weeks it seems that DTG's interaction has dropped a bit and I don't know to what extent this has been caused by the purchase we have just learned about. We don't know if they are going to change the forums or their policy, but the first thing I would like is that they continue to be an important meeting point where company and community can communicate as usual, and that users can express themselves freely, always with cordiality. I am calm, because as "Liberté" being the first word of your country's official motto, I am not afraid it will change. Beyond this, there are many points that could be dealt with in this letter, but I am going to focus on four that in my humble opinion are very important to try to ensure that this game has the best possible future, which is something we all yearn for. 1-TRAINS What is it about these iron giants that have captivated so many of us since our earliest childhood? Millions of people around the world are passionate about the railway world. And among them are many DTG members. Yes, perhaps we can reproach them for many things, but one of them will never be that they don't love trains. Many people who have been part of the company until today have amply demonstrated this and have tried to make TSW a pleasant experience for those of us who also love them. Sometimes they have had better or worse results, but I am sure their intentions were good and they have put a lot of effort into trying to make it happen. I am not going to ask you to love trains, that is beyond our individual control. You may like them more or less, but I would ask you to RESPECT the trains. From a publisher's business point of view it can be difficult to get excited about a certain product and focus only on numbers, but never forget that behind all that there are many people who have a special sensitivity towards trains. Many of us support this game because we feel that the people who build it have that respect and admiration and show it every day, which is reflected in the result. Seeing and listening to these people will make you feel the respect they feel. 2-HUMAN RESOURCES After a purchase, there is always a restructuring of personnel. Of course I wouldn't presume to tell you how to do it, but I would like to make a suggestion. During all this time, we have seen people in DTG who have always tried to go one step further. I am not going to name names, I think we all know them and there will be many others who are more anonymous. I would ask you to support them because they are people of great added value for the company. Don't clip their wings, they are professionals who always want to go one step further and dedicate the time and effort necessary to carry out their ideas and projects. Give them value, listen to them, take their opinions into account and reward them as they deserve. You are very lucky to be able to count on them and it would be a shame if they had to leave for other places where their great talent is recognised. 3-THE PRODUCT If you have bought DTG, there is little I can tell you about them that you don't already know. It is a company with a variety of products, but their strong point is trains. And I have always heard that it is a "niche" product, that it can never reach large masses of customers. Within its limitations, TSW has managed to strike a good balance between an affordable game for everyone and the best possible train simulation so far at a price we can all afford, and it has also brought it to consoles with good results, something that is very unusual as simulation games have always been more of a PC territory. It might be tempting to think that it can be made to reach a wider audience by transforming the game into what it is not, making it more affordable or more arcadey, but that would be betraying the philosophy of what TSW is all about. I think this game has a lot of potential for growth, but maybe looking for revenue at any price wanting to reach a very wide audience and making the quality and simulation go down, can result in backfiring . 4-COMMUNICATION If there is something that surprised me when I found out about these forums, it is the large number of people who, in addition to liking everything related to the railway world, have a great deal of knowledge about it. And I've sometimes wondered why DTG hasn't taken advantage of it more. Have you ever requested something from the community and at the moment dozens of people have contributed their bit to try to help, providing material and knowledge. A long time ago, the routes were previewed well in advance, and there were always members of the community who, due to their knowledge or because they were from the area and were very familiar with the route, detected errors and imperfections at the moment, and reported them with the only hope is that the game is more faithful to reality, which translates into a higher quality. It even gave the company time to fix a few things for launch. All that has been degraded, now the only preview is broadcast a few days before launch, where there is no longer any scope to change anything. DTG has been moving further and further away and closing in on itself. In my humble opinion, this is stupid. What company is lucky enough to have a community behind them supporting them with all that knowledge and not take advantage of it? All this has resulted in a loss of communication and transparency on the part of DTG that has not ended up being liked or benefited by anyone. Too much opacity, too much distrust. The result? Releases in which, with few exceptions, the quality has plummeted and the errors and bugs have not had an answer, nor have they been provided with the necessary updates to correct them. Many people who bought the first day at full price no longer do so, which has a negative effect on income and the anger of a good part of that community that has always been faithful to them and has constantly supported them translates into many negative opinions that They spread through the networks. In the world we live in today, we all know how important reviews are for any product, but DTG doesn't seem to care too much. Why have we come to this? That feedback that existed before should be recovered. I do not pretend that a company has to be totally open with its clients and things do not always go as they should, but players will always be more understanding before a company that accepts and faces errors and problems that may arise, before another that hides the head like an ostrich. That communication must be re-established as soon as possible. We are all in the same boat and we want TSW to have the best of futures. And without further ado, and wishing you the best of success, I say goodbye to you.
Much agreed, well said erg73 There's a lot of passionate players of TSW who only want to see it be the best it can be!
Thanks for taking the time to write this, my opinion is represented, too! Actually I'm not too worried but yeah, I really hope the communication with DTG will be better again. Remember the time, when there was only speculation around here with almost no officials? Dark times...
You are on Point and the team in Paris Focus Entertainment might as well tell their Subsidiary office in Chatham UK to slow things down if DTG wants to follow the Focus Entertainment Standards for Quality. To prevent disasters like NEC Trenton New Brunswick NYC which has an incomplete timetable like LIRR.
I worry that with a bigger company taking over, there will be even more of a focus (no pun intended) on profits above all else, leading to even more unreasonably tight release schedules and buggy software. More productivity required, less resource available. This is the usual procedure for large corporation takeovers.
