[alkonaut]

> There is no consumer advantage to it.

Now you are assuming people having [next big game] in month N is as good as having it in month N+10. I think there is a large amount of gamers out there that would rather play a disappointing mess now, than a polished game later.

[willis936]

This doesn’t ring true at all. The games market is saturated. The reason to play the latest and greatest single player AAA game is because it is the latest and greatest. If the game is worse than a 5 year old competitor, then why even play it at all? Plenty of gamers have not played GTA V or The Witcher 3. Those are better experiences and cost much less.

[alkonaut]

> then why even play it at all?

Because it's been hyped. Because game sales is to a large extent about that pre-hype, not the gaming experience.

Publishers have (correctly) realized that the games themselves are following the same mechanics as in-game loot boxes.

You might also think that these poor/disappointing experiences would turn gamers off from buying the next game because they were burned the last time, but no that's not my experience either. The gamers disappointed about the release of AAA game 2018 from one studio, will happily buy the 2020 game on launch day from the same studio. And the studios know this.

[seba_dos1]

Got any data?

People would shout and cry, and then as the time passes they would forget about the delay and just play it once it's released. People don't lose interest over game that they want to play just because it got delayed.