A good summary.
I would add just one thing. A good game from a players point of view is not necessarily a good game from the marketing/profitability perspective.
Two Classic examples of this from a non-computer gaming are the Games Workshop Warhammer Franchise and the Wizards/Hasbro D&D games.
In both these cases the original games had big strong loyal followings because the games were excellent from a players perspective. However this big strong loyal following was not be translating into profits as those players already had all the books/miniatures/random stuff they needed to play indefinitely.
In both cases the games have been changed to appeal to the quick easy cash and carry "fad" market. The central long term player base is far weaker but the continual turnover of new players buying books and miniatures, playing for 6 months getting bored and tossing the books in a cupboard ensures huge ongoing profits.
The significant point is that unlike Warhammer where doting mums and dads actually do waste silly money on miniatures with the logic that "its better than Johnny doing drugs" the fad PC game market simply will play something else if they cant get it for free.
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