Oh but you do, once you choose PES over FIFA, Konami over EA you are making a decision based on loyalty. Also, I understand the capitalist business model, I understand that I am a minority and in terms of dollars I don't count (as much), but loyalty does count and any business that understands this stands to make more than those who don't. Keeping your customer base happy and content (with your product(s)) is at the core of any fundamental service or product driven business model. Stepping on one customer in the hope that you gain two more customers is not a long-term viable business plan. Look at Blizzard and what they did to WOW in the long-term. Yes in the short-term you make more money but your reputation suffers and eventually when the cycle comes full circle less and less customers want to participate because the conditions are not satisfactory, hence the business begins to experience a drop in growth and furthermore inherit the long-terms effects of damaged credibility which is liable to inflict further financial loss.
So yea it's bad and yes loyalty counts. I get what you mean though, customers can shift loyalties very quickly, however if you are happy camper then the chances are you won't (when confronted with a choice of your tried and tested i.e. you-are-happy-with-brand vs. a new brand.) switch.
I play football games, both PES and FIFA: that's the choice I make. I believe your likening or packaging of choice and loyalty, or that there is always loyalty in choice, is false. If there was another game out there, I'd give it a go, just like anybody else who visits pesgaming.com would. If that game was more entertaining (which is itself hard to define. For you and me, I imagine the entertainment we derive from playing PES is in applaud of it being a realistic, rewarding game based on it doing what you want it to do. For others, mostly the young you speak of, they just want smash-grab football, cheeseballs blindly hoofed or lobbed down wings), I'd play that game. If the other game sucked, I wouldn't play it. I wouldn't, however, develop some kind of loyalty to the game just because it provided me with some good times.
But isn't capitalism, in essence, about expansion; infinite expansion, really. If you aren't expanding, growing, then you aren't deemed healthy. I agree that maintaining some sort of base is of some importance, but expanding it within a capitalist framework is essential, even if you end up with the proverbial blood on the bottom of your shoes, which in this case may be "loyal" fans. This model or practice is outdated, and some form of sustainable capitalism would be more effective. And another thing: what is more profitable, or a more better return on an investment, the focus on a young, emerging demographic, or an aging one?
As for credibility, I'm not exactly sure what you mean. How many successful companies have tarnished credibilities and are still successful? Do you own Nike's or adidas' or anything made in other EPZ (Export Processing Zones. Naomi Klein's
No Logo) is a fantastic book that delves into these horrible little cities/countries within countries) laden countries? How many corporations are successful financially due to the exploitation (which capitalism undoubtedly is built upon) of another? Is it merely the credibility, the "faith" of the consumer that drives it, or is it something more? How much do we put aside to keep buying the things we buy? I'm not attempting to go on an re-hashed anti-capitalist rant, but you talk of credibility as if that really affects big business (at least nowadays. I would assert that credibility mattered much more years ago in big business) from engaging in crummy business practices. From a small business perspective, I'd say that establishing your credibility matters. yet from the perspective of many large businesses, so much is swept underneath the carpet by the consumer in favor of consuming, which you and I most definitely are committing ourselves to by playing video games.
Plus, what do you think Konami benefit from making an inferior game? Case in point, there's still been hangers-on to the franchise, despite the waning of their credibility for years (an example of this can be seen from the numerous posts on this website/forum; and year after year, there's still more people buying the game and bitching about it. This appears to be a trend in video games and its consumers, which amazes me; and so much so that I've begun to investigate it and plan to write about it. There appears to be this addiction, or at least the chasing of an uncanny sensation once experienced. I've felt this too, when playing PES 5 and 6 many moons ago. Anyhow, for me, PES or Konami has no reputation to corrode. I've let things go. These comments within the parathenticals should've been a footnote. Sorry).
I applaud your idealism. Hell, I'm idealistic too, and that's why I don't seek loyalty in large business. I vote with my purchasing power; and in purchasing video games, unlike with more important purchases I make as a consumer, has noting to do with loyalty. Expecting and returning loyalty seems only now viable from local businesses, which Konami, EA and any damn video game (or producer of mass entertainment, for that matter) certainly aren't a part of. At any rate, my idealism or loyalty, no offense, is focused on other global matters than entertainment. I would however, like to study this love/hate relationship with PES and other video games, as well as play some more PES 2015 games, which at the moment, I am enjoying very much.
