Is CM dying?

[Steiner14]

Kineas,
I also have the impression, I would almost say the conviction, that the CMx1 community was larger. Much larger.

But if that was the case, what was this whole going realtime good for, if it did NOT result in a larger community? Where was the good business decision, if the old system with only WEGO attracted more players than the new system with both?

Steve claims CMx2 was so successful. But the forum post count does not really support that claim. The Blitz and other community pages do not show more activity than CMx1 but less.
So where is this huge success if more players have stopped playing than new players have been attracted?

Is this a way to prosper if the community shrinks?
And I believe, that the true state of the community, is not seen because of their model of releasing content after content. IMO this camouflages that the development of the engine is very slow. In fact so slow, that hardly new players can be attracted and kept.

I believe, the acceptable sales numbers are not a sign of the fast development, but are a result of a loyal fanbase, so eagerly waiting for every improvement, that they can sell even the modest improvements. But to attract new players, bigger steps would be necessary. What is enough for the ever shrinking hardcore fanbase to buy every title, is by far not enough to attract new customers.