I don't know about loyal, I don't plan on buying the next NFS until it comes out on PC and I can download it to try it first. If it's any good then I'll buy it, but otherwise I won't be buying it.
And about the making money on games, why else would they make games? That's how the world works. Sure there are come companies that take their time to release a game if they need to make it better but most have tight schedules that the programmers must stick to.
Agreed. EA these days are on overload. They have an unbelievably tight schedule to get around 5-10 game series' sequels out within the same time period. There's the Tiger Woods, FIFA, NBA, MADDEN and NFS sequels to get out, maybe more. Their goal is more financial than fan-base related, but sometimes I feel that EA have failed to comprehend this. Profits depend entirely on how popular/satisfactory the game to the fan-base, so they buy the copies and is widely recommended. ProStreet is fine example - although it appealed to me, I represent the very tiny minority of which EA has inadvertently catered to.
In order to appeal to a wider audience, EA needs to go back and develop/extend the few aspects that everyone absolutely loved. Personally, I'd favor some sort of Most Wanted 2. The replay value of Most Wanted still holds to this day, and I would love to see the next NFS developed on MW principles/foundations.