About the Star Citizen 1.0 announcement, I don't think that's shareholder driven. The game's almost feature complete and Chris Roberts has always been in a hurry. It'll be about a year to get all of the more crucial technical stuff done and, if CiG don't mess up the most underestimated feature (procedural generation) they'll be popping out a star system (one we know about) every fortnight from 2025 to 2027. In the past, CiG have been reluctant to go down the geology road (making different orebody types with different structures based on geological processes and chemistry) which would have extended to fitting biomes together in ways that not only make more sense to the outdoorman's eye, but also create the kinds of landmarks and resource hubs which influence navigation and dictate where settlements tend to be situated. The fun part of this is that when the environment dictates where and how a settlement develops, it becomes even more bespoke and just 'fits' in a way the player can relate to - which is why taking this approach such an effective method for making compelling settlement/village/town mods. It's also eminently machine-doable and if CiG crack this, they will probably get to the point where they can churn out a thousand star systems per year - all spectacularly unique with compelling and bespoke features (something which be somewhat of a necessity to satisfy the majority of players given the interest in exploration). The big question is, 'where does it all end?' And that brings us back to 1.0
You see, the transition into beta (feature complete) opens the door to a seemingly pre-emptive release with an ongoing content stream (much like a lot of other MMOs); just on a much bigger scale. And, if pledges keep rolling in for more content, why stop there? Don't forget how stable the funding system of this kickstarter has been - since day 1. So Star Citizen could easily afford to go into beta for a few years and still release on the 15 year mark, while things like balance, underlying systems, mechanics, UI, etc. get tweaked, reworked and overhauled and ships continue to roll out, and, with the next dozen systems, or so, procedural generation gets tweaked and reworked to the point where it can cook up really compelling, non-generic content...and throw in some stellar chemistry constraints on how planets orbiting different star types evolve and you'll have enough material diversity (landscapes, life, resources, etc.) to hold the attention of players, indefinitely.
However, it feels like a lot of things are being dumbed down under the flag of "dialling it back to fun" in order to kick this out the door earlier - when the opposite is what's made it possible for the project to get as far as it has. For example, without structured resource modelling, you'll never get 100+ unique star systems done this side of the 21st century, never mind all of the unannounced star systems necessary to satisfy the gameplay pledged for by the millions of exploration-focused players. This all comes back to getting the right consultants (e.g. geologists, physicists, biologists, etc.) involved so that the way things come together straight out of procedural generation works for the bespoke feel of locations instead of against it