[beezlebroxxxxxx]

The quote still applies to NMS, or CP2007, because they failed to live up to the hype on release and that really left a stain on their legacy. It's fair to rejoinder that, well the games are pretty great now; but I think Gabe's meaning is really about how, from a business perspective, your product does not live up to its potential and this can have longtail business consequences.

In a way, studios have hyper-focused on pre-ordering in order to get around this. Games are now investments that eventually get fixed and "live up to" their cost, instead of a polished finished product. Studios and publishers now focus on pre-ordering over finishing.