A writeup from their AGC talk is here, and the takeaway is that it is now official to call the New Game Experience an object lesson on how to piss off an existing player base.

We took a big risk, and we learned. There was some really positive stuff, and the game now is as solid as it’s ever been, our people have done a great job – we got the bug count down to about half of what it’s been in the past six months. But what I would have done differently was be more sensitive to the target audience. The audience you launch with is the one you’ve got.”
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So what happened with NGE? Blakely said the changes were “a big risk” that represented a push for a new market of customers, but that it “did not intersect fully with the market that we had.” Fiala said there was “perceived to be a timing opportunity” related to “product placement and product marketing” of Star Wars Galaxies, and reiterated the importance of listening to “the market you have” when making decisions about a game already in production.

This is a refreshing admission. I suspect they won’t be rewarded for their frankness by the fans, but it’s good to see nonetheless. It’s considered a mantra by every other industry that it is 10 times harder to recruit a service member than retain an existing one. Whatever the numbers for MMOs, I have little doubt that there is a disparity of effort for us as well.

Original comments thread is here.