Exactly, a lot of publishers these days hold firm to a release date no matter how complete or debugged a game might be. If they said that they're going to release a game on X date then come hell or high water it's going to be released on X date. What happens in the mean time is that the dev team continues to work on debugging and completing content that weren't complete in time for the release date. That's why a lot of games now a days have all sorts of updates and patches on the first days of release, and later, because they want the game out and don't care about how complete it is so long as it installs and is in some form playable.
Yep. You don't even have to be in the industry to figure this out. SO many games release with Day 1 DLC and have massive post-release patches. And many of them also are released with on-disc DLC that is later "unlocked" through patches. A bunch of this is about release dates.
I think a bunch of it is also about ensuring that the game remains "fresh" for appx. 1-2 years, until a new game can be released. The relatively recent "season pass" concept also plays into this, since it provides an instant influx of cash to developers and the impression taht the game will be supported for some time.
I don't mind DLC as much anymore. It's the nature of the beast nowadays, and longing for the old days of larger up-front releases and expansion packs after the fact is pointless. But I gotta say, the EA/Activision approach to game cycles...it's just kinda tiresome. Especially considering how they almost NEVER provide hotfixes for clear in-game balance problems or design problems, and will only OCCASIONALLY hotfix a connection issue.
I remember back when Battlefield Bad Company 2 came out, there was a period after some patch where the X360 gameplay had HORRIBLE rubberbanding. That was allowed to continue for over a month. In other cases, there's often at least a 3-6 month period where some no-talent uber-build of a weapon and/or class loadout just totally unbalances the game. In BF3 it was the USAS shotgun with 12g frag rounds and an IR scope that basically let you see through walls. It was the ultimate noobcannon and it ruined gameplay. When DICE changed the scope to not operate that way, a group of players lost their damn minds. In another case, they put a patch out that had the underslung shotgun when loaded with flechette ammo basically one shot anyone because each individual flechette round was being given the full damage of the rifle to which it was attached. That lasted about a month and a half before it was patched.
DICE is notorious for awful support in this regard. So, all you pre-order junkies and day-1 enthusiasts, just bear in mind that whatever you play on Day 1 it will play vastly differently by day 365, albeit with long periods of brokenness in between in one form or other.