WOW. Some of you guys are VERY acidic about this. So, here's my own translation. Hopefully you guys will be perhaps less miffed.
"Focus is one. I know that it's not a huge leap to do a PC SKU, but it is different. It's outside of our area of expertise, to be honest."
Do you know how many people are on High Moon's team, or what they train in? Without specific knowledge on this front we should take this at face value - some of you in the past have even said High Moon can't program their way out of a box (MP glitches, etc.) - this is them ADMITTING to their weaknesses. He's saying to make the game for PC, they're going to have to take time away from developing the project -hours and hours of training and then actual work porting- to get the game to be on par on PC as console.
"I think there are a few things that are inherent in what PC consumers are looking for that frankly we didn't deliver good on."
PC users of WfC complained (sorry I don't have any less negative connotative synonyms off the top of my head) about several things they didn't get that the consoles did, or that WfC didn't have that other PC ports typically do. He's admitting they didn't deliver on it for one reason or another, and this is now a reason as to why FoC will not be released on PC (it would be repeated). Be it because they can't, won't, or are just trying to tick you off. Take your choice of assuming a reason.
"We were spread so thin that I feel like we barely served that audience. Then there were some issues with continued support that were frankly beyond our control, but at the same time did not create a great experience for PC gamers that got it."
IE they put so much of their team into developing the PC port
that WfC is not as good as they thought it was going to be. It detracted from what they thought they were capable of on the final game. From these quotes it appears as though they have accounted developing a PC port
too expensive to even bother to attempt. That is, with manpower, time, money, and any other resources that would otherwise be used to further develop the game, versus adding a port for a less polished game - breadth versus depth. This was my assumption when I heard about it ages ago. I see no point in them attempting it until they hire enough experienced new workers to devote to porting specifically for the pc. Otherwise Activision could certainly have another developer make a "Foc" for PC, similar to what publishers do for the other platforms (but it would likely be considered a waste of money, compared to making a ds game or wii game, etc.).
-------
And to anyone who is concerned with my own position on the matter, I'm two weeks shy of leading a group to deliver a demo on a UDK based game. We've had countless setbacks in implementing certain things that we had to train team members to do. Some of those, wasted hours due to finding out those features will not add to the game well. All the same, it's good for the individual's experience, but it detracts from our budget for the game. I know our game won't be what we initially hoped for due to not sticking to what my guys were trained to do.
Lastly, have any of us read the whole article/interview? I admit I didn't because I didn't feel the need. However, after reading the thread, I did want to respond to all the vitriolic comments on the matter, and hopefully present another light. Coming from the developer's perspective, I won't blame them for whatever compounded reasons that led to this decision. I'll deal and move on, though, no, I don't expect everyone else to.
And no I don't play Wfc on PC. I play Halo on PC. (and halo 2 on xbox, and wfc on Ps3...)