unless its a very specific game that i really want, ill wait for a sale. Or even just wait a few updates because most games dont even release as completed games anymore
Generally I'll play things the second I become interested in them. If I'm interested in a game enough to know it's coming out on its release day, I'll get it then and give it a shot. Sometimes it gets refunded, because I was wrong. Sometimes it gets thrown into the pile to come back to later. Rarely, it gets shortlisted to come back to soon. Very, very rarely, I realize I've found a gem and rejig my schedule to play through it. That hasn't happened in a very long time.
unless its something my friends want us to play right away, i wait a while. im a cheap bastard so it usually takes a few years until i get it via humble bundle or its like 75% off
Definitely waiting for me. The only game I ever got on release was an amazing experience so I have zero disappointment from at-release but i have more of a taste for older games in general. There's a very short list of games that aren't a decade old since I became the one choosing which games I play (ie parents stopped buying without input when I was a kid)
A lot of the recent games have been what I call "Five minute updates"
As in you launch the game, you see fair bit of text. Then one or two sex scenes at most. Then the game ends. I don't blame the devs. They aren't lot of the time paid well, they don't do it as a job, they aren't obligated to write novellas.
However If I'm going to download a game, might as well download something that has some meat on its bones. I'd usually wait for some games after two updates or so.
Then there's games from for example Blackheart games which I play every update as they have tons of content.