In the grand scheme of things, how many refunds are we really talking about? I have little reason to believe the noisiest bits of the online gaming community is any different than the online political community. In that they are a representation of a small percentage of people that scream really loud. Even if the total refunds come out at 250k, that's a small percentage. Do we really think millions of people are demanding refunds, or the screaming minority?

I think this is a goodwill move to preserve their image as a pro-consumer company. Whether that be a marketing ploy or just how they want to do business is irrelevant. In my opinion it's the best move for their company. Take some lumps now, spend 6-12mo. fixing the game, which (social commentary aside) doesn't seem to be that awful when the bugs are fixed and the 2013 consoles are out of mind. Next game, maybe be a little more cautious and keep the hype down a bit.

With respect to the state of the game, I think they got in waaay over their heads with the game and eventually got told by business people/bean counters to just effing release something no matter what.