Gamers are so impatient these days. I guess all that instant access via online platforms has spoiled them.
I still remember when you ordered physical games via mail and had to gulp actually wait a 1-2 weeks for delivery.
Either that or actually go into a store.
Back then you really looked forward to a game and you actually played and finished it. Also, patches or updates were either rare or non existent depending on the platform, so Devs actually had to release a complete game. There were no DLCs, there were expansion packs, if anything.
I never understood people who need to have a game or a piece of hardware on release day. There will always be bugs. When it comes to hardware, I always wait for at least one revision, before I pull the trigger. As for games, I no longer pay more than 20€ for a game. It’s on my wishlist, I only care about the single player experience, my backlog is huge, sales happen all the time,… I can wait.
I’ve been gaming since the late 80s. This was before people had internet. Patches for games were very rare on PC back then. If anything, the developer had to re-release a game to stores. Consoles of course didn’t really get that capability until the PS3 era.
When CD-ROM games became common people still only had dial-up internet, if at all and patches were very rare back then.
It was just a different mindset back then. Companies actually took the time to polish their games before release.