TheBigFatJ on 27 June 2007
Keeping the hype high is important, it retains interest amongst the gamer community in the game. A similar marketing method was actually used for Killzone 1.
Sony seems to consider stringing people along is a reasonable business tactic to maintain sales or stifle those of the competition. Look at the PS3 release -- they must have known 6 months in advance that it would be delayed (hell, not one 3rd party game was in development yet then and nothing first or second party would have been close), and yet they were telling people just a couple of months before the missed release date that it would ship then. When the PS2 was coming, that tactic combined with blatant overpromising contributed to the death of the dreamcast.
I've never seen an FPS this high profile get released only a few months after real information and demos were shown to the public.
