Intentionally holding back quality and leaving in bugs in order to get a high score should not be part of the game. From the (in)famous Success Guide are two comments worth highlighting:
A Wikia contributor said:
After much more playthrough I have finally figured out this game. I think the reason many find it difficult is because the entire strategy is terrible. Basically you have to print out all the tables, sit down with a calculator, pause the game, and plan perfectly, the next game to make, and forcibly ensure all the figures required are there.
This will get you consistent 9+ reviews to the bitter end of the game. The issue is, doing this actually doesn’t make it a game, it makes it a maths test. At no point could I mentally do the maths to achieve a 9+ score, mainly because I would forget certain variables or mix up variables rather than the actual maths itself.
The entire game is basically a giant maths test “You need to find X and it has to be greater than Y” repeated over and over again.
Terrible game. No room for any casual fun, you have to follow an exact method, and not deviate AT ALL or you will get 3’s. Literally never had any 4-8’s. It’s either 3’s or 9’s. As the reviews themselves say “Has potential but falls short” I hope they sequel this game and make the algorithms more “loose” so that every now and then you can release innovative games and succeed.
An excellent real world example of this is Pikmin, it is a brilliantly developed game, got extremely strong reviews, yet had absolutely tragic sales, but got a LOT of fans (me included).
You wont see that kind of thing happen in game dev tycoon. Tis a shame.
Istrebitel, who made the Success Guide, said:
Unfortunately you are right. This game’s mechanics promote terrible actions (release with bugs, hold on features, hire worst employees) but only if you know them. The fun of the game is to figure out how it works. Once you did, it becomes… less fun.