A boost fans perk is a pretty solid idea. I could see adding that as an additional choice. I think having one perk be end game only is ok as well Ie the lower wages perk has no use at first but when you have 5+ workers at high lvl that reduction could be great. Although if your making bank at that point it might not be worth I will have to try to get that in line somehow to feel worth.
As a big tycoon fan myself I totally agree about how stale the game can feel when you have mastered the loop. I have a few ideas how we can tie the Ai companies in to a more real experience not just the background. I have a few ideas on paper, but I am not 100% sure how they will feel when implemented. I was thinking about stuff like if you release in the same month as a top company and your using the same genre if there game is better than yours you would lose sales and vice versa for them if you made the better scoring game. One of the ways I already am tryign to tie the Ai into the experience is the dynamic trends / genres based on ai sales, but I want to bring more dynamic realism to the Ai / game I just have to be careful I don't go to far to make it feel like a hindrance. This is why I haven't tried stuff like that yet, but I will.
My next update after the visual work I am currently doing will focus on fixing the cash and adding some of the stuff we have discussed followed by large and then AAA games / offices. Once we reach "end game" then it will be a little easier to examine the math and try to balance perks and add some of the other ideas for Ai. Still got a ways to go, but I am very happy with the current state of the game. When I get some of the more end game ideas and Ai stuff in I very much look forward to getting your feedback / suggestions.
I didn't want to put this anywhere on the game page cause I don't want feedback for the wrong reason, but I plan to have a credits section in finished game where I give thanks to amazing contributors like you and a few others who have been in major conversations with me and have helped guide development in the right direction.