Is enlarging the Fandom good for the Fandom or just good for the shareholders?
It's the latter. I've been through this cycle a few times in my life. Some thing starts out with very niche appeal. Fans enjoy thing. Fans convene. Thing get more popular. The creator dies/cashes out/is forced out. Capitalist IP holder focus tests the hell out of thing for "mass market appeal". IP holder runs the ol reliable "respecting existing fans while appealing to new generations" marketing spin. Then it is driven until the wheels fall off.
This is by no means important, but the Fallout franchise is something that used to mean a lot to me. The first two games were pretty fantastic imo. Since it's been taken over by Bethesda, it is absolutely more popular and made a lot of cash, but the theme and feel of the first games is long gone. Fallout is now Fallout™ where internal consistency doesn't matter, but who cares? It's just a video game.
It's the latter. I've been through this cycle a few times in my life. Some thing starts out with very niche appeal. Fans enjoy thing. Fans convene. Thing get more popular. The creator dies/cashes out/is forced out. Capitalist IP holder focus tests the hell out of thing for "mass market appeal". IP holder runs the ol reliable "respecting existing fans while appealing to new generations" marketing spin. Then it is driven until the wheels fall off.
This is by no means important, but the Fallout franchise is something that used to mean a lot to me. The first two games were pretty fantastic imo. Since it's been taken over by Bethesda, it is absolutely more popular and made a lot of cash, but the theme and feel of the first games is long gone. Fallout is now Fallout™ where internal consistency doesn't matter, but who cares? It's just a video game.