If.they delayed filing the patent they were more vulnerable than they had to be for those years. They would have had a weaker case to sue if someone imitated the system in their own game between the public learning about it and their patent filing date.
Of course it’s worth mentioning that a competitor making something TOO similar (as in a copy or clone) would have run into the territory of copyright law, which requires no filing for protections to take effect.
If.they delayed filing the patent they were more vulnerable than they had to be for those years. They would have had a weaker case to sue if someone imitated the system in their own game between the public learning about it and their patent filing date.
Of course it’s worth mentioning that a competitor making something TOO similar (as in a copy or clone) would have run into the territory of copyright law, which requires no filing for protections to take effect.