Well, it is going to become a trend. Not just at SE, but for all Triple AAA game developers if we're being real here. Base game will launch, and over time improvements/etc. will be added onto the current base via updates and/or DLC. That's not to say games will ship out unfinished, but will definitely have more of their meatier parts left out for post-launch. When you think about it the benefits to both parties are apparent. Developers are given more time to refine their games to achieve higher quality and publishers can recoup costs via post-launch products (much needed since development costs are only going up). Consumers now get more longevity in their games having their gaming experiences last up to months to a year as apposed to just 24 hrs to maybe a week. They'll be some push back initially (like with XV), but the consumer will break and fall into rank in the end. Same thing happened with the Digital vs. Physical debate. Only a matter of time before physical games all but disappear from retailer shelves. People will be so used to it they won't cry uncle by then.
Anyway, the demonization of Square-Enix has been a long time in the making on the Internet. It won't go away overnight. I can't exactly say I haven't been apart of that crowd before in the past or else I'd be lying. However, the current steps they have been taken give me the impression that they are at least trying to win back their base slowly, but surely. Tabata's actions are a farcry away from the XIII days when Toriyama basically ignored all those who criticized XIII and the fanbase (mainly the west) was totally shutout.
"That's not to say games will ship out unfinished, but will definitely have more of their meatier parts left out for post-launch." This is what most people are afraid off, people don't want those parts left out post-launch, they want them at launch
there is nothing wrong with refinements, but they shouldn't make the game feel complete, they should feel like additions that enhance the experience, not fix holes, that shouldn't be there to begin with, this is probably why people demonize the AAA industry to begin with because of the shady practices(looks at Deus Ex WTF Pre-Order Bullshit), unfinished or buggy games(WTF Ubisoft, by god Assassin's Creed Unity was something else). Oh and Day One DLC.
I think the fear comes from the meatier stuff that should have been in the game to begin with being available post launch is that it can possible create an unsatisfying game, that's the problem, and worse it being sold to you as DLC. Gamers are afraid of games being ripped into parts and sold when they should have been in the main game, they are afraid of a game feeling incomplete which to a lot of people FFXV does feel incomplete, and it's understandable why for example the MT Prompto stuff that wasn't set up well, to a lot of people it came out of nowhere, and worst of all they are selling DLC that will probably flesh out that particular thing, and that is what people are afraid of. They are afraid of Final Fantasy a very story driven series going this direction. the FFXV backlash to the story doesn't come out of nowhere, it really is something that was a long time coming.
I just feel like FFXV gets a lot of it because of the hype it initially had, I mean people knew about this game for 10 years since it was Versus XIII, so it's understandable why they would be upset if certain plot points that are in the main game, that should be in the main game, are going to be held off for DLC, and they are going to be pretty upset, when certain characters that we are supposed to feel for, but can't because they get very little screen time(Luna), and some things being off-screen like Iedolas becoming a demon, so on and so forth where in previous games this wouldn't happen, there wouldn't be plot points that would be explained as DLC, they would be in the main game itself because they could only ship that copy.
Also Physical and Digital will probably always exist, hell that's the reason why the Xbox One got so much backlash, consumers don't just break rank, if they did MS would have kept it's stance, Sony would have done the same thing the only reason it doesn't on PC is because it has a very competitive market to get away with it, consoles do not, they don't have enough sales, they don't have enough freedom to get away with such things.