[cgriswald]

The issue Augustine raises is why games have launch problems. He pins the blame on backend issues and ignores other issues. (I think primarily he was just using failed launches as a vehicle to talk about gaming backends, but nonetheless he argued that backends were the primary cause of failed launches.)

Another issue the article failed to address is that many games fail catastrophically when servers cannot be contacted even for online features that are not necessary for core gameplay; or for DRM purposes. This is a flaw in the front end that contributes to the same problem.

All those "causes" are primarily fueled by the following:

"It's a major threat to their business. So why does it keep happening?"

This here should have clued him into the larger context. It isn't a major threat to their business. Getting a refund on a videogame is becoming easier, but has historically been difficult. Try returning an opened copy of a game to any retailer. Even explaining that it is the game itself that is broken does not always result in an accepted return.

The consumer, rather than the business, is bearing the cost of a failed launch.

So Augustine is correct in a technical sense regarding how backend issues contribute to failed launches. However, it is the market as a whole that is the primary driver behind failed launches. There is little incentive to fix the failed launches regardless of the technical means by which they occur.