Nintendo Switch Press conference: January 12 2017 in Tokyo

[Jranation]

Nuvendil said:

Einsam_Delphin said:

How would it minimize negative press in any way? It's only the opposite since there's less time for people to forget or come to terms with the bad news.

This is a good point.  Imagine, if you will, if MS had launched the Xbox One two months after their disastrous unveiling.  Even if they had reversed their bad policies and the Xbone launched exactly as it later did, the launch would have been an absolute bloodbath vs the PS4 cause people would still be livid, they would have next to no time to spin anything, and no time to repair their brand or do damage control.  It would have been worse, not better.  Cause bad news spreads like wildfire and anger lingers short term and only really cools with time.  Announcing a good ways ahead of time is better for controlling negativity since you have a long while to spin and do damage control. 

This!