I dont think the question is whether the devs/publisher *want* the game fixed and improved - of course they do - it is a question of whether they *able* to fix and improve it, in both the short and long term. This will have an ongoing affect on sales figures.
If, as I suspect, Oleg is long gone and perhaps some coders also, then new coders will need time to familiarise thermselves with the code-base and libraries, and unravel some of its mysteries. It depends on the abilities of the new guy/s and the transparency of the code and efficacy of the code and de-buggers.
Either way, in purely commercial terms I'd say the 'de-buggers' haven't got long, even though the more detailed flight-sims tend to be slow-burn as Freycinet says. But even they are subject to sales stats, curves and charts, and the long, beady eye of the overhead projector beam (bean-counters at the back).
I've been part of a dev house with a long-standing code-base (soem parts went back 8 years). Chief coders left, new guys came in, could not make head nor tail...core routines had to be re-written..took months/years.
Again, pure speculation, but not unreasonable. Probably not that bad in this case, but serious code analysis takes weeks/months, even before any re-writes can start. Then the testing etc.
Recent third-party prototype mods show potential of the landscape graphics engine...which suggests it can be modded without too much bother, so there's hope yet.
Ben
