It's all a marketing scheme.
-Come out with the game in November.
-Make it half-assed so people keep tuned-in with "new updates" and "fixes" throughout the year...hoping it gets better....as opposed to make the game correct when you release it, people play it...get tired of it faster with no hopes of anything getting better...because its already good enough.
-Finally fix most issues with the game near August/July when a huge player base gets out of school. People continue to play and are excited its fixed so stick around with the franchise.
-November release new broken game, and restart process.
It all boils down to keeping the customers on their "toes" the entire year. Anticipation...leads people to go through crap they normally wouldn't care to endure.
Purely marketing. I'm in marketing and sales...I see very obvious marketing ploys they are doing.