Umbaglo

I suspect the issue is that in order to be DRM-free, the game has to be playable off the disc without any further patching. But that means that, if the disc is to be delivered on time, it will need to be manufactured with a v0.9-ish version of the game that might be obsolete by the time the game launches. Thus the disc (which is the most likely copy for early pirate-wannabes to get) might still be buggy, which could lead to morons people complaining about bugs that have actually been fixed it legitimate copies of the game. This could all be avoided if the game disc cannot be run without

Why is this an either/or option? This is a "dilemma" that existed back before Steam, so while I understand that it's been long enough without it coming up that many people don't remember, it also doesn't mean that the problem is unsolved. Why not go back to the same solution that developers used to use back then? You can pre-determine a URL for the 1.0 patch, and then put it in the game installer to be downloaded and applied automatically, or put it in the manual and tell people to go there to download it. There's no need to delay shipping the physical goodies or game disk while retaining