How many players have they lost to excessive load times?
Judging by the number of successful sequels the franchise has spawned, the answer is 'an insignificant number'.
The fact of the matter, and the point my comment was trying to make, is that the overwhelming majority of players do not sufficiently care about load times or other complaints to deter them from paying for the game. That is the reality of the situation.
I'd say especially since the ones who are most likely to be affected by these issues are working adults with limited playtime who won't want to sit in front of their monitor for 5 minutes waiting for the game to load and also happen to be people with disposable income to pour into a game.
(Same thing for websites - they show you all the annoying popup signup sheets/survey questions the instant you load the page.)