That is so incredibly short sighted though that it makes me really mad. How does an underperforming game make shareholders happy? That it dropped this fiscal year and not the next?
Sales are sales. They are like a swarm of locusts, once they had their profit at company x they move onto the next. Often taking the CEO with them. It doesn't matter if the company suffers.
It's inherently unsustainable just like the whole 'maximizing profit grind'. But it creates a fortune for a few people and that's why it keeps happening.