I don't think corporates rely on "loyal costumers". I can't imagine a manager at some big company agreeing to this line of thinking.
I mean yea, theoretically this applies to everything (games, music, movies, etc), but .. I have a hard time believing that big companies will someday realize this.
I disagree. When they make XYZ 7, they are counting on loyal XYZ customers to buy it just because it's the next one. I'm sure they also try to make a great game, but the budget for development and marketing were based on the sales of XYZ 6 and that many of those customers will be back for the next one.
Brand loyalty is real and companies do count on it.
