No hard feelings...

[Matt W]

"why AP should be struggling so mightily to right the ship"

I believe that the answer is quite plain although given today's business ethics, perhaps it would be considered quaint. I believe that Mike does believe that he made promises and he will do his darndest to make good on those promises. Whether he can eventually meet all his promises remains to be seen but if that was not at the heart of it, folding would have been the correct solution. Indeed the boards were full of such speculation before 1866 was released. I believe the order of the releases is something that gives a hint to the company's intentions. If commercial success was being pursued, Kursk would have been first, but 1866 with its less marketable subject (and we do primarily buy on subject) was a statement that AVP was going to meet their promises to its long suffering customers and that it was doing so out of honor and not out of greed.

All of the changes that they have made in recent years reflect positively on their current ethical approach to the business. I can only hope that extends to their treatment of past designers and developers as circumstances permit.

Perhaps I am naive, but it is a naivete that gives me a warm feeling. Someone, somewhere in this world actually tries to do what they promised despite a much easier and less expensive way out. I had counted my money spent on Kursk and others as money lost for some time. I am thrilled to find out that I was wrong.