I’m in the same ballpark of discontent as you are, Drib, but I’m not sure whether I agree that a substantial part of IOI’s refusal to budget on their recent unpopular decisions is down to lack of vocal disgruntlement from the fans.
There has been plenty of fan-generated noise around things like the Connor McGregor association, the Twitch drops (especially the heinous subscription-gated one), and the now shameful and insulting Sapienza episode. But despite catching a lot of heat from fans on these issues the only thing that’s moved the needle was the McGregor controversy, where fears of a backlash that could have been more widely publicised than amongst only the gamer community saw them actually act on any negative feedback.
I genuinely admire and am grateful for your efforts to amplify how much of a disgrace the Sapienza episode is, but until the media outlets with the necessary megaphones actually report on these things I’m not convinced the community can do much more on the noise front.
The C-suite at IOI is seemingly content with whatever financial upside they calculate they’re getting despite taking actions which have tanked all the popularity and goodwill that the IOI of previous times had worked so hard to accumulate, so the only course of action seems left seems to be to hit them in the pocket. A huge miss on Project 007 sales targets would be the just result of all the shit they are pulling now: chat shit, get banged, as they say.
How likely that is to happen, I’m not at all sure though…
(And I’d prefer it not to, because I want the management at IOI to simply DO BETTER, not needlessly continue down a road that’s alienating their loyal fans, who continue to want the best for both IOI and their fellow Hitman players.)