How Do Dtg Restore Trust With Community?

They said it several times in the last years. They said it again today.
How many more times do you want to hear it?

 

I hear some of the points of what you're saying.... but

- Unreal engine is arguably more powerful and just as easy to work with. Having been there myself, it's not as counter-intuitive as you may think (and one of the reasons I'm rather annoyed that DTG used as an excuse when initially prorogued the editor)

- In my personal belief... the licensing issue is debatable. It might be a licensing restriction on use of UE4 tools to create paid content. Or it could be TOC licensing. Both of which lose a lot of weight in an argument when compared to other titles. Licensing might not truthfully be the entire issue to the editor... but motivated by monetization strategies* or reverse-engineering.

What I do agree with you on... is that Dovetail planned out TSW POORLY. No debate at all. The lack of proper tools, custom liveries that don't require the in-game editor, lack of AI to make up gaps in timetables, duplicated content in DLCs, lack of route extensions... all of it and more. Difference being that DTG engineered it that way... not that Unreal is incapable of doing so.

*To further expand on this point (and take what I say with a grain of salt)... the licensing excuse DTG used is rather inconsistent. I believe there is a valid argument that DTG wanted third-parties to only exist through their revenue streams. This is backed up from comments from developers on stream and discord (who once mentioned that third-parties should pay royalties to DTG). A similar precedent was made with FSW, when developers told third-parties that content could only be sold via DTG (so that it could go on their store and via steam).

 

They've done so on stream loads of times. Was a running joke about Sam and Nat needing to "hold Matt or Adam back" on streams. That's how we ended up with the "if it's not on the roadmap" and "we've just said it, but it doesn't mean it's coming" remarks