[kbenson]

> So, the company makes the promise "we'll have ready by November". They make this promise in April.

Make smaller promises but make them more often, and shit changes more often. Be clear about features 3-6 releases out, and when and why features get bumped. Companies delivering software are already doing this because they often can't deliver in 6 months and telling the customer it will be in the nest release a year from now does, as you note, make them stop doing business with you, so instead now you can tell them it's just delayed by a few months which they can maybe deal with.

Games don't really work like this, but games also don't seem to really work the same way at all and have different incentives.