An examination of loyalty and the limits of the consumer’s wallet “Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.” – Ayn Rand When you stop to think about it, the mere concept of money is a confounding thought. Why is it, that we are all so willing to place value on something that is worth nothing? What’s worse is credit cards, debit cards, and so on. These are not even actual money, but representations of it. My bank account is nothing more than numbers on a page, and yet it is my lifeblood. Perhaps we all continue to perpetuate the facsimile because we believe that at some point in our lives, we will have the power. After all, money buys everything, doesn’t it? Without diving any deeper into the psychological implications of applying value to something that has none, I’ll skip my ten page report on the misplaced faith of society and just get right to my point. If I told you that I would sell you a PlayStation 5 for a thousand dollars, would you buy it? I don’t think the answer is a simple yes or no. First off, does anyone sell it cheaper? How much disposable income do you have? Am I just buying a console, or does it come with something else? We’ll go into more detail on these and more subjects. Before we really dive in, I ask two things of you dear reader. One, hear me out. Two, don’t be afraid to voice your opinion in the comments below. This is a subject ripe and ready for debate. The Blind and Faithful Followers First and foremost, we must call out to the chosen few who have relegated themselves to buy any console Sony makes at any price because they believe wholeheartedly in the vision of Sony and more importantly in the investment that PlayStation offers. I would count myself in this group, and although Sony isn’t always right, they have never betrayed me so utterly that I found myself questioning my loyalty. What’s more is that loyalty is easy to break and hard to attain. I know I am not the only one who would follow PlayStation well into the thousand dollar realm of cost. Why, you ask? Well for four hundred dollars the PS4 is a steal for starters. Would I have paid a thousand for it? As it stands, probably not, but that doesn’t betray my claims of loyalty because I believe Sony delivered a product that justifies its costs. They don’t assign price based on games of luck and chance. There’s rhyme and reason to it, and that’s why the PS4 deserves its price tag. With the PS5, if they announced a thousand dollar price tag, they would have first showed me a product that is worthy of a thousand dollars. Loyalty may not be the driving force of all gamers, but is pushes a select few to … Read More