You're just wrong. It's not pedantry to say they did not finish their project if the product has not been released, especially in light of huge delays and extreme budget excess. Maybe you're content with documentary videos instead of the promised product but it's certainly a fair assessment to say that the project is not finished.
However, I don’t think any of this matters, really. Also: We were never promised a product. It’s right there in the launch video: We get to see them attempt make a game and they will document it, warts and all. Whether it succeeds or fails. That’s the promise and that’s exactly what I’m getting.
KickStarter is not for buying products. Hence, the concept of a "promised product" doesn't exist within KickStarter backed projects. That people confuse KickStarter with a store does not make KickStarter a store.
People that are upset at the project "being late" completely are people that are treating KickStarter merely as a pre-ordering system. It's not.
I don't really agree with this. They promise to give me a thing (or multiple things) in exchange for my money. Yeah, there are tchotchkes for most projects and there are 'interesting' updates, but the reason you (the generic you) put down your $20 is to get the thing at the end of the day.
I get that they say that you're not buying a product, but one can call a tail a leg and it doesn't necessarily fit, yeah? If it was really about just backing-a-product, I'd think everyone involved, including project creators, would be a lot more careful than they are with their wording.
> People that are upset at the project "being late" completely are people that are treating KickStarter merely as a pre-ordering system.
I don't agree here, either. They're people who expected the project pitches to be realistic measures of time-to-completion. My clients aren't happy when I blow estimates, either. They may still be happy with the final project, but that doesn't mean it's okay for me to hork an estimate.
I’m honestly confused why you think they are millions (plural!) over budget. Their budget was obviously the $3.3m, the funding they received. That’s what they planned with. To act like their budget was $400,000 the whole time is just weird and not true at all.
So if their budget is $3.3m I’m not sure where you are getting the info from that they are (already) millions over budget. When all is said and done the game will probably cost more than $3.3m, sure, but I‘m also not sure why that matters. It’s not like putting their own money into it is somehow wrong. It’s their game, they can do what they want.
