Surely they can release and fix later because Nintendo (or whoever?) built up the Pokémon brand over time. They've built consumer trust but they can easily destroy that do the point that such moves will fail in the future.
I think the game would have to be unplayable for Niantic to really destroy their credibility, and it doesn't seem to be. Consumers have been trained by now to expect a poor initial offering from AAA publishers that might improve over time.
