iannz - our posts crossed, so I will answer yours here.
Please check how many bugs were fixed in the latest Microsoft or Apple update (or Steam or 1,000 other software programs). The reality is that software has bugs, some minor, some major. Under your utopian concept of not releasing TANE until it is bug free (and by the sounds of it, that means not even releasing it today) then there would be no TANE at all. Our doors would be shut, and you would all be elsewhere since these forums, the DLS and any Trainz support would not exist - those are the commercial facts. We are not announcing that we are abandoning TANE development (read the news release - it heads the list) and we will continue improving the foundations we have laid.
The question is which strategy would you prefer? Our current path - a future that is currently looking bright (with a profitable company planning future releases), or a past that includes an obituary to N3VGames which would have closed down while trying to attain the impossible dream of a bug-free release?
Thankfully, (even though the people on these forums may not believe me since I am often accused of lying when I present the commercial facts that don't match people's pre-conceived notions) TANE is selling really well. Our mobile division is also doing really well with Trainz Driver Journeys adding significantly to our iOS revenues. Not only that, the recent survey that several hundred people have completed indicates that TANE is their favourite version of Trainz ever (sure there is a bias there, but the point is, lots of people are very happy).
Would we love to have released TANE SP1 a year ago? For sure! Did we choose to keep it under our pillow until the time was right? Of course not.
We worked as hard as we could with the resources we had, and that is our ongoing strategy from here on (but now with a smaller, but far more sustainable team). We don't sit around twiddling our thumbs and ignoring the feedback. Our goal is to achieve everything on the lists above and far more. The best method to achieving that goal is to either wait a long time or to generate more sales, increase staff numbers and achieve the goals quicker.