Well it's nice and all for id to come out and say this stuff (ok, it's not all that nice at all), but the
real question here is:
Will they fix the game? Should we expect patches, and to what extent? Are they still dedicated to the PC, or should we expect the same story for Doom 4?
All I've seen so far is them point fingers at the video drivers - How come other games have gotten along fine with those drivers? Did they never test the game on the PC? Why did they never talk with the driver makers (nvidia, ati) and get this stuff sorted out before hand? Did they give nvidia/ati a preview copy of Rage and work with them?
It's a pity; if Rage had a smooth launch, the video card manufacturers would've made more money (people buying new cards due to good game reviews), and obviously id would make more in sales. Simply saying "oh the PC isn't leading anymore" and then not trying anymore definitely guarantees the PC will stay in that state.
Why is Carmack talking about audiences anyway? Why does he care? He's a game designer; he enjoys making great games. It's obviously the upper management who gave him orders for the design direction, and he has to follow that. I'm not blaming Carmack for anything - he's just doing as ordered. The issue is obviously a lack of testing; it was the upper management who decided "yeah, this game was tested enough and is ready for release. No, we don't need to delay the PC release and put more resources into fixing it."
"If you like it, they will stop making it" - Herblock's Law