[limflick]

I always think about how relatively bug-free older games like GTA San Andreas are, since if they ship with some game breaking bug it's pretty much permanent. You could say this about software in general, but with games, especially non-linear ones I'd imagine there'd be more edge cases involved (I've never developed a full game myself, so I can only speculate).

In paper mario 64 (20001), there was a game breaking bug where I got enough star points (or whatever they're called) and got the prompt asking me to level up. But I was already levelled up to the max, and the game wouldn't let me proceed without levelling up. I couldn't roll back to the previous save game because every time I beat the boss I'd get enough points asking me to level up again and I'd be stuck. These days a simple patch would do the trick.

I can't imagine a game like Cyberpunk 2077 coming out in 2004 in the state that it did.

[expedition32]

You can do months of testing which obviously costs money AND delays your game. Or you can ship it and patch later. Make your customers be the beta testers.

Now I personally wait at least 6 months because I can't fucking STAND broken games. However the market has spoken: gamers at large don't give a shit.

[BizarroLand]

Unless you are so enraptured by the idea of the game that you cannot live without it, or if you are a streamer who will make money from playing the game on day 1, waiting 6 months for patches is the play.

You will typically save money on the game, other people will review it, flaws will be fixed, and you'll have a better time of it.