Looking at how games are launched across PC and console these days, I think something is changing in the industry. I really do feel like the old retail "launch date" model is starting to go away whether publishers and gamers like it or not.
Just look at how computer software in general is released to the public these days. Google and Facebook usually start off with betas that are slowly updated over weeks and months, and then improved over the course of years. PC games, especially online-focused PC games, have basically been doing the same thing. Games like League of Legends, DOTA, DayZ, and many more have completely de-emphasized the singular "release date." They soft launch to the public like any other computer software does, and keep getting updated with the assumption that people will play the games for years.
This is starting to happen for console AAA games too, even if it's not intentional. Developers will keep working on patches as the discs are being printed and shipped to stores which is why you get big day-one patches. Features like GTA Online and Heists end up not being available until months after launch. Games are launching on consoles that feel like beta code. Yet, publishers are still emphasizing the initial street date as the "big day" for a game, likely to pump up pre-order numbers and keep retailers satisfied. Developers are increasingly seeing the disc as merely a delivery medium for the initial, rough code, since these days so many crucial parts of a game are just downloaded onto the hard drive. Games you buy at retail work less and less like static retail media.
Basically, video games are starting to more and more resemble what they always really were -- computer software.