I guess games could have much higher sales (especially when the thing is new and hot) if they wouldn't release utter garbage for the most time. Just go and ask people whether they're keen on buying a bunch of bugs for 60 to 80 bucks. Most people aren't. Only a very small group of die hard fans does this.
The whole indie scene wouldn't stand a chance likely if the big players were able to deliver stuff that works actually before the first couple of patches. It's a kind of joke that one or a few people can build much better games than multi-billion companies. The problem is the mindset at the later!
I'm not advocating for "maximum code quality" as you don't get that anywhere anyway for any reasonable price. But game releases are just far beyond any pain point. The usual advice is: Don't touch, don't buy, until they proved that they're willing to fix their mess!
The games industry would need to walk a really long distance before they could get rid again of this public perception. But they need to start somewhere. Otherwise their reputation will reach absolute zero real soon now. They're already almost there…
Problem is, execs would like 300M revenue now, with a buggy PoS, than 500M after 6-12 months. Because those 300M can let them make another crappy game and release it 6 months earlier (12 if both skip on quality). Then you are missing 400M revenue, but you get 600M 12 months earlier. That recoups costs and looks nicer on reports.
Or in other words, gamers hate buggy releases, but not enough to change the practice.
Sadly, I do not think that is true. Plenty of those games continue to sell in huge numbers.