I just realized something about games that come out bad. Take a mainstream, AAA game that most people enjoy (e.g. Red Dead Redemption 2), and look at the games media “conversation” around it. There’s a large initial bump of headlines and podcasts from the release, but after that period, it’s a lot harder to re-enter the spotlight and the conversation. Then take a game that comes out bad. Sure the initial reaction will be negative, but the lifespan of the conversation of these games can re-enter the spotlight again (multiple times normally) post release with less resources involved. Or so I’d think.