Launch Day Is Just Early Access With A Marketing Budget And Preordering Makes You The Tester
A new game costs about what a nice dinner for two costs, and it arrives unfinished, then finishes itself three patches later. Compare that to an old expansion pack, which showed up complete and added a whole continent for less money.
My spicy conclusion. Buying on launch day is paying full price to be an unpaid tester, and the reward for waiting six months is a patched game at half the price. Patience is the only preorder bonus that has ever paid out.
The counterargument is that live games genuinely get better over time, which is true. So does bread left out on the counter. Argue with me.