The old adage is relevant here:

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Yes, the publisher is to blame.

But it will keep happening regardless - so you can either keep falling for it and screaming it's not your fault, or wise up and start having a bit more patience and buying games later.

It's on the publisher the first time. It's on you if you keep buying them.

This your first day in the real world? Devs have been releasing games in this state since like 2013 (not including the gaming collapse of the 80's) regularly.

If you still trust developers to claim a game is ready and then release it as such, then you're gullible and will fall for anything.

You want the system fixed?

1. DONT PREORDER

2. Wait for actual reviews, not the "I played the tutorial and then made this video so I could beat the other YouTubers, 7/10." Two weeks or so gives the passionate reviewers to play the whole game and give their opinion.

3. (This one is where you morons keep fucking up) If the game isn't up to your standards... DONT FUCKING BUY IT! Buying shitty products tells the devs and publishers that you're willing to spend money on a heap of garbage! You know what they'll do next time? That's right! More garbage!

Stop trying to blame the system because you're a shitty consumer who will hand over their money for a promise and no second thought.

Stop. Buying. The. Crap. Products.

If this was housing or medical I'd be calling for regulation, this is video games. A luxury good. Just don't pay money for garbage and they'll be forced to make better products to get our money.

You might think that fist shaking will make a publisher change. Look at the history of buggy game releases. It's extensive. Look at all that fist shaking.

Publishers are run by people. People respond to incentives. Business is incentivized to gain dollars.

If, for example, no one gave publishers dollars until trusted reviewers verified no bugs / issues, the publishers would be incentivized to release polished products. (note, trusted reviewers may not be the ideal solution, but hopefully illustrates the concept)

Even if customer isn't to be blamed as you claim being voluntarily ignorant despite past trends at the very least makes them an idiot. And the type to get swindled by everyone since they take everything at face value.

There are lots of benefits to this approach.

You wait for a sale and not only do you pay less, you get a patched version of the game, with mods available, often with DRM removed or toned down, walkthroughs and wikis already matured, and depending on how long you wait, your hardware might have evolved allowing you to experience the game better than you could at release.

That works for you and me, where we do without.

But it doesnt hurt the industry enough to notice or care, because the vast majority of gamers are idiots who continue to throw buckets of money at game devs, often while begging for more pointless DLCs so they can throw even more at it,

and until the little gremlins with fat wallets and minimal sense see the light, we're just gonna have to sit back and watch all the worst shit continue to get ever more worse.

70 will become 80 before long, 80 will become 90 and so on, if we remain apathetic about changes like this. Its good principle.