The game was never "delayed" because it never had an official release date to begin with. And no, I don't think it's "too broken even for an EA". I have no idea to what alleged standard that comparison would be based on, to begin with. If anything I remember spending my first hours with the game surprised by how far ahead it was already compared to when DOS 2 entered EA (most of the voice over is already in place, for a start).
I also find any claim that "before addressing core mechanical issues there are bugs to fix" extremely questionable. I'd argue that getting the foundations right should be a priority over any degree of polishing, especially if you don't fancy the idea of having to redo a lot of work twice as you introduce new systems.
It was delayed by a week, the game is out right now, it's available, it's on sale, don't be naive about it. I've played Grounded and the difference compared to this in terms of polish is mind-boggling, sometimes it didn't even feel like a game in early access. And fixing bugs before game mechanics is clearly a priority, especially when people couldn't even play the game for 5 minutes without running into something broken.
