We absolutely need a proper definition of “death” and “dying” for this to be useful and I may be a pessimist...actually atypical for me.
If it means “no moar wargamez”, well, of course not. Certainly not in the next decade or so as the tweeners (Baby Boom to “X”) age into retirement. We’ve got money and will spend on teensy print runs that our era makes possible. We are better off than our older brothers and dads. And, in fairness, we’ve been lifted by the tide of hobby gaming.
I think, however, that we’ve been dispatched by the mass market to a cul-de-sac. I’ve said before it’s a nice one, but here we are nonetheless. Shoot, even COIN (not wargames) games are dismissed by many of the cognoscenti as “too complex”.
I am not uniformly enamored of Compass’ products and QA. MMP is a wonderful boutique. Hollandspiele much the same, but even smaller. How long will OSG, OSS, Flying Pig, and LnL endure past the passion of their founders? We all know how narrow their margins are. Will others emerge? I hope so. I do.
And, it should be said, we live in a time that has begun to regard the study of military history with a suspicion reminiscent of the 60s.
I, like y’all, am more than set for life. And this hobby has shown itself resilient. But I am not optimistic.
And, clearly, neither GenCon nor Origins is all that interested. Certainly the vendors themselves are not interested in them.