>>59644044I witnessed it happen to Guilty Gear. I got into the series with Xrd and fell in love with it. But it was still fairly niche. The community was great and everyone was helpful. Even when you lost matches, the game felt so rewarding
Then Strive happened. It was made easier and characters' motivations and personalities were twisted and morphed. The new fanbase was garbage and they shat up everything.
Then Bridget happened and that was when I knew it was dead. You now have people with Bridget profile pictures that have never even played the game. Now the game has significantly less players. All those new fans they desperately wanted aren't there anymore, and it's a shell of what it used to be.
That's exactly what happens when you don't gatekeep.