100% disagree. None of the blame is on the consumers. The studio pitches a game. People get excited. People buy it. None of that is the consumers' fault. It's false advertising, period.
If consumers didn't preorder and waited for games to come out and get reviewed fairly before buying, then this strategy wouldn't work.
False advertising only works because consumers are buying games based on promises made in advertisements instead of based on the quality of the game that is actually released.
Those angry consumers have a responsibility to not be complete and utter babies in their response though. And, as a secondary responsibility, not to expect so much.
Sure CDP hyped the game up. But they're fools for believing it. How often do things ever live up to the hype, especially in business?
Hmm, maybe this backlash is naive kids learning how to be jaded.
I agree with your general point and never pre-order anymore for those reasons.
However: people are getting refunds. In countries with consumer protection laws, it looks like there is little downside to buying in to the hype, if you can get your money back. This may eventually teach companies to rein it in a little.
False advertising only works because consumers are buying games based on promises made in advertisements instead of based on the quality of the game that is actually released.