They demand you buy the half assed game built for everyone but you because you need to “man up” and support everyone else over yourself.

Sounds like modern day marriage.

corporations and modern women act almost exactly the same

It applies to gaming, relationships, media, politics, religion, everything. Nerdrotic tried to explain this to the foolish executives years ago. Yes there are two kinds of consumer, the loyal fans and normies, but you can't guarantee the fans will stay in "the cave". Normies are the "easy lay". They come and go following trends and you might get lucky and score by riding the coattails of your previous products, but they're usually gone in the morning. True fans are harder to win. You've got to wine and dine them and treat them like the most important people in the world. Once you get them they are extremely loyal and always willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, but once you betray them - by diluting your core product to capture a new audience - they are gone forever. You can always try to appeal to new consumers, but without sticking to your product's core strengths, you not only lose the fans but there's nothing differentiating your product from the next Digital Consumable from Company B. Your true fans are a base of support that provide immeasurable PR beyond your marketing budget, and can keep the company afloat during market downturns when other customers aren't biting.

You had to worry about the people who weren't in the cave, which was the audience we actually wanted, which was much larger."

Perhaps it would have been more apt to call them an island. You might make it easier for the cruise ship tourists to collect your game if you drop it in the ocean, and some people on the island might swim out to it if it's not too far, but if you drop it far enough (like on the mainland), the people on the island won't be bothered to go for it and the people on the mainland won't care.