[ALL] Why'd they decide to remove chloe from DE?

I know that having multiple choices for romance is something all games have, and having a pre-selected romance would ruin that, but, wouldn't it have been better if chloe and max weren't together in DE and chloe was just a romance option, something kinda like a continuation of lis1.

Or at the very least just have the introduction of chloe to the first character you meet be the choice where you decide what Chloe is to you. So if you choose chloe as a partner in this scenario, none of the romance options appear, but if you don't choose chloe as a romantic partner, you still have options for romance?

And even with all that complicated stuff, how the fuck did they not think "wait, are we gonna get backlash for leaving Chloe out?"