I don't deny that this is true for most players. However I think it'd be better for the industry overall if devs just finished games. And then once they had it done, if they wanted to add choices, went back and did that after having a completed story.
So many games are subject to scope bloat cause most devs are not also project managers.
As a storyteller, I agree with you. It would be easier and quicker to tell the story that is in my mind without giving the player options. Write a classic novel where everything happens in the order I have thought of.
As a player, I disagree with you. Having some control over the story in a VN gives it a depth that a KN can never have. Also in a KN all relationships are forced on the player. Yes, it's the classic comic/novel/movie system, it works great for those media, but if I have a choice, I'd rather do it.
As a developer, it would be impossible. We developers are, in general, self-centered jerks (like anyone doing creative work). If we've done something one way, it's because we believe there's no better way to do it (or because we don't know how to do it better). If a KN takes two years to develop, for example, why is the developer going to revisit every situation where a decision could be added if the work as a whole is already perfect (in the mind of its creator)?
Also, you mentioned the term "industry". It means it's a business. What is the long term benefit to the developer to add those choices once the game is finished? What percentage of readers would reread The Lord of the Rings just because Tolkien added choices to it? I think it would be a pretty low number.
You also have to take into account, and for me possibly it's the most important reason, the exhaustion of writing the same story for a long time. I've talked to several developers who have been at this a lot longer than I have and they all agree on the same thing. There comes a time when you want to wrap up the project and start a new project where you can explore all the ideas you've had over the past months/years that don't fit into the current project. No one is going to want to keep getting bogged down in the same project to add options to it. You want to tell new stories, not keep telling variations of the same story.
Needs a better name, the acronym YTALAPKNU doesn't work (or YTALAPVNU for being a visual novel).
It almost sounds like Finnish!
