It can and will happen to everyone when they get a large influx of orders in a short space of time, whether 'self inflicted' as in this case or just a rush of popularity. The quality can drop. Willow is a natural material and there is a finite amount of each grade, and a vast difference in potential appearance within each grade. Some of these look a bit iffy for the original prices, and a 50% offer shouldn't make a difference to that.
But this is hardly a massive disaster compared to other similar cases. Look at SAF bats, making lovely products, gaining a lot of recognition, huge surge in popularity and orders, started churning out rubbish (by all reports, I never saw one in the flesh) coupled with really poor service (I've heard about delays clearing customs in Japan, bats taking months to be made, etc) and now not operating at all.
A few arguably sub par bats looks wise will happen to every brand. Ive seen some stinkers labelled as LE/top end over the years from various manufacturers.