Keeping AH1 and AH2 running concurrently would ...
A) Divide the player base.
B) Almost certainly make the time HTC invested in AH2 development wasted.
C) Cost HTC about twice as much in overheard for servers, support staff, and internet connectivity providers.
In short, from a business standpoint unless keeping both running concurrently meant an immediate doubling in either the number of subscribers or the fee the existing subscribers pay, it would be financial suicide.
From another perpective, AH and especially AH2 represents the pinnacle of multiplayer interactive gaming today, and especially simulation gaming. This is not a hobby for people on welfare or fixed incomes. Between the video cards, controllers, fast connections, and CPU/memory requirements it's a sport for those willing to keep on the cutting edge or close to it. If ponying up a few hundred bucks every 3 or 4 years to keep your computer in-line with mid-range computers out today or purchasing one is prohibitively expensive, massively multiplayer online flight combat simulators are probably not the best hobby for you.
The only other alternative HTC or any other game developer of this genre would have is unacceptable. What the people who advocate keeping AH1 going really want, given the business/financial realities for HTC/developers, is for the developers to condescend to the lowest common denominator of the player base. This would have the effect of dumbing down technology and enhancements, slowing development of new engines and concepts, and basically throw the software development industry into a state of status quo where things would never improve or do so only at an intolerably slow rate. I'm sorry folks but this is not how the technology industry works, it's a fast and furious business where the dollars go to the most creative, innovative, and leading edge provider of goods and services.
Zazen
