*Sees Hiver's post*
It's not the full story you mention. Vampire: Bloodlines was hit VERY HARD by the leaking of Half Life 2's Source Engine source code. Since they didn't allow any games to be released before Half Life 2 using that engine, they had to delay the game despite not having the financial situation to do so. And they went belly-up, unable to patch their mess of a game due to having an old Source version.
If they could release when they planned, and didn't get delayed due to Half Life 2, it might have been an entirely different situation for them. They weren't forced to release due to Activision, but due to money. But too late... and only due to an external factor they couldn't control.
And that... was the lesson of my post. Delays can be deadly. And then your game can't be fixed. And you get the Bloodlines situation.
