well CS:GO profits from the very active pro scene, while going competitive on planetside is very difficult. As games go mainstream now people want to play the games they see on tv...
I see your point but I still think the lack of development is more hurting AH that the death of the genre. See all the loyal customers above that consider leaving the game just because of the lack of good meta game, they are not leaving for another game and will probably stop playing alltogether.
I once wished for tools that would allow us to play competitively AH, I got laughed at.
I think we're both right.
CS was just an example. COD or BF or any of the other rounds-based games could just as easily be substituted.
My pet theory is the open world games just aren't popular. If you compare open world MMO PvP to rounds-based stuff like CS or COD or any of the rest of the FPS's, it's orders of magnitude smaller. It's just the nature of the game, very few people want this style of gameplay compared to what those other games offer.
What sucks for guys like me is, I don't enjoy the rounds based stuff like CS or WT or whatever. For me online is pretty much a game like this or nothing. If this place shuts down it's very unlikely I'll go to WT. for example. The only game on the horizon atm for me that could replace AH for me is Star Citizen. And that's iffy.
PS2 is really the only other game I can think of that's like AH, other than WBs which makes this place look positively crowded.
Wiley.