although it surely is sad to see this development....it is not completly surprising.

When Dreamhack was streaming different games at the same time, other games had more spectators.

While this is not the only indicator of course, I think (fear) that many games will have a larger playerbase.

The quake scene is basically the same for a decade with some top players leaving and some newer ones taking those spots, but there is nothing to see that couldnt be seen in 2004 aswell...

From a business point of view and, lats face it, thats what those companies are about after all, it makes totally sense to take some younger and (at the moment) popular games....