While the original programming of HBD is remarkable, the business model was not thought all the way through, and has certainly not been updated as gaming and online communities have evolved.
Of course a software upgrade or change can go bad. Fortunately, the guys who argue against changes for that reason don't control the software industry. We'd all using DOS and dialing into the internet if innovation depended them.
Game improvements and new features would both increase the number of worlds existing players are in, increase retention, and bring in new players. Even bumpy upgrades result in more sales. That's how it works in every software and gaming platform. WIS could go with both New HBD and Classic HBD if a mass exodus is the concern.
There are a LOT of aspects of HBD that could be improved in ways that would make the game take up less time and have equal or more strategy. Budgeting, coaching hiring, the FA process all take up more time than needed, are far from realistic, and reward time on the site and knowing tricks more than strategy. I believe that's why for a long time before it became obvious WIS wasn't going to upgrade HBD anymore the guys who post here most were all against suggest improvements. They know how to work the system and spend a lot of time here. Current system works well for them. They don't care that it doesn't work well for most others.
Development / ADV seems to not work as intended. If it did, I don't think there would be so many experienced players with ADV set to 0.
There is very little feedback on what caused what to happen in game. You can watch 50-100 baseball games and see how often good D helps and bad D hurts. You have to play HBD a long time and really put in a lot of extra time to realize errors and +/- plays don't capture all that goes on with D. From what I see, players who stick around 2-4 seasons mostly leave teams with OK hitting and crap D. Given how much time and attention it takes to figure out that's generally a losing play, I don't blame them for leaving the game out of frustration. A bit more info would probably keep many of the around longer.
Most of the money in most businesses is in the back end. Most business lose money on the first sale. Profit comes from repeat buys and from selling more and different stuff to people who've already bought. How many ads are on this site? Unless you come to the forum, it's 0. And the one ad here is usually crap for this market. Do we get offer to buy other stuff from WIS or FOX? Or reminders that there's a big sporting event or some other big TV event on FOX tonight? Or ads for other **** that geeky bball & strategy game players buy? All money WIS is leaving on the table.
Customer support seems to have always replied to tickets that they have something to say about in a day or 2. But the people who give CS instructions are clearly hostile to most of humanity. How many times has WIS taken the side of the person who's the cause of the problem, resulting in others quitting right away or after the season or not adding new teams? It would be like an airline taking the side of the screaming lunatic on the plane, telling everyone else they should get off the plane if they don't want to hear ranting for 5 hours.
I doubt HBD has ever sold 10% of the market for a bb simulation. You just don't see ads for it in places where folks like us hang out, online or off. And they have probably burnt out 1/2 of the people they have reached with a stale product, lack of new customer training / intake, and indifferent customer support.
Are you in any other online forums that you pay to be in where there are members like Mike and Tec who frequently unleash personal attacks on other customers who post ideas or question? Mike runs this place in the eyes of any new prospect or customer who happens to find there way to this forum. He posts a ton of helpful stuff, but he's frequently insulting and hostile. How many people to you think that drives away? Not everyone wants to pay for abuse. If you're going to make money from a paid member site like this, you have to moderate it. (Mike will never read this far in, so he'll probably never see this.)
The code that runs HBD, under the control of this company, probably can't be fixed or improved very much. It's what happens when the original codes all leave and nothing was very well documented. That reality has taken down a lot of businesses.
Those who say it is what it is and WIS delivers what the promised are right. Shortsighted, but right. I doubt you could point to this site and get your credit card company to refund your purchase. But there are a lot of reasons you might not purchase again. Most people tire of games that don't change. If Mike were in charge of all gaming, we'd all be playing Madden 1 and Call of Duty 1. Upgrade keep people coming back and spending more money.
Now that there's a HBD to look at as a model, it would take less than a year for 2-3 guys, working part-time, to build a game at least as good. And do it in a way that could be improved upon in future releases. A basic course in marketing, and they've got a high 6-figure business our of the gate. If we found out about it, most of us would go there and signup. And the decision makers at WIS/FOX/EA would probably not really care. This site is probably more of a drag on them than a profit center. More afraid of social media **** storm if the closed it down than the money loss.
I respect that WIS/FOX keeps this game up and running. I'm down to one team, but I'm still here. I get a sense the powers that be at WIS are a mix of hostile and indifferent to input like this. As I've posted before, I'm writing this is the 2-3 guys I hope are out there coding. I think they could make a better bb simulation if they considered some of the ideas posted in this forum.