I think the ability to effortlessly deploy updates is the main reason. Why agonize over the quality for months when you can simply release the product before it

I think the ability to effortlessly deploy updates is the main reason. Why agonize over the quality for months when you can simply release the product before it's ready, then use the actual money you've made to fund fixing it, and roll out the fix with nary a hiccup? And if people didn't like it enough to pay for it in a slightly broken state, they probably don't really want the fixed version either, so when no one buys it you have enough signal to know not to invest time in fixing the buggy bits. I'll tell you this, I'm so glad I have been able to play Helldivers for the last couple of months instead of waiting for it to release while they work the kinks out. Broken software is really annoying, though, so I sympathize with the desire to pin it on competence or laziness.