I actually thought they might really hit this date because it was a significant date to the studio.

yea i just meant in terms of console and it not being shackled in terms of potential design constraints due to being on last geni did as well. perhaps more devs/publishers just need to keep milestone goals/release dates internal. Until the final phases of development, then announce a release date several months before it comes out, when you KNOW it will be ready. No need to announce release dates a year or more ahead of time.... imo.

Project Management is like a cone getting smaller as time goes on.... there becomes less obscurity and more accuracy the closer you are to the finished product. Therefore less risk.

Nintendo does this sometimes and it hasn't hampered sales. Hell, they did it for Metroid Dread (didn't even announce it until 4 months before release) and it's now the best selling metroid game ever.