We know that there’re famous building toys called “LEGO”. In the past I reviewed some of them. Despite of the reputation of a high quality product, in recent years it was rather common that some sets had missing parts, some painted elements (like faces) were easily scratched away, some specific parts (like remote controls) were too smelly.
You could order replacements free of charge, but can you imagine that you buy for your kid a big and expensive set on a Christmas or birthday, and during assembly (s)he realizes that (s)he can’t build the toy because some parts are missing? Coincidentally LEGO had decided as well that moving some productions to China will be a right thing to do.
We can assume that the rule in this business is “eat or be eaten”. Maximizing profits is not necessarily a result of a greed, because each company has to keep innovating as hard as they can, spending on it as much money as they can.
A consumer wants something new every day and the company which fails to satisfy this need is momentarily comes closer to bankruptcy, regardless of its today’s position. And we know that once a company starts to move in that direction, they try to sell their products for even higher prices.
As for the fading titles on Genos I’d say this. In my view, Genos is an expensive, yet not luxurious product. Unlike some acoustic grand pianos, or even stage pianos like CP1, it’s mostly a very practical thing. You are not paying for its looks or some handicraft, mostly you are purchasing the software within.
As I understand, most of ordinary acoustic upright pianos cost more than Genos. Making an analogy with cars, I’d say, Genos is not Mercedes, BMW or some Lexus. It is a contemporary car which is a top of its own line, but it’s intended to be priced within certain limits. Yamaha produces instruments for practical needs, not for private collections. This goes for LEGO toys which I mentioned above. They are expensive, but they are supposed to be bought by majority.
I guess CP1, or even CP73/88 are more about their appearances than Genos. But they are less fun. While I share your feelings, I guess we have to compromise on it. After all, an arranger keyboard is supposed to get dated rather fast. Just judging by how much the discussions are focused now on Genos now and all the previous models are now in a shadow it’s easy to picture that in few years all the attention will be focused on something new. So what’s left is to get what you can from this product today keeping in mind that in few years it won’t be this exciting even with a brand new look.