I think you got to discount points of view from the perspective of how valuable their perspective is to your goal. The problem with social media and open forums is that it’s not obvious and takes time to figure out who’s who.

Having said that, it seems a little childish to me that Ron just shut down the haters. I think that there might be a bit of his ego attached to the outcome versus the process. I can only speculate that perhaps he wanted recognition and adulation for this bold choice and was hurt when feedback didn’t match expectations.

Sure people might be rude about it, but it seems that there is clearly a market for the retro pixelated aesthetic, so why not give people what they want if his goal is to satisfy the fan base and continue the story? I have no doubt the story, set, characters and jokes will be great. I guess the comment asking for Ron to do a Sonic might have been too on the nose for him.

I think that any creator has to reconcile that if they create for others, their art becomes something more than just theirs, like a sort of reflexive co-creation.

Seems to me the best artists understand this while not letting it stifle their creativity.