Sure, but even in 2024 this 20-year old game has a paid monthly player count well into the millions. Extremely successful by any measure. And perhaps one of the most profitable game franchises of all time.

There’s a lot of hope and desire for “forever games” particularly from investors but there is no such thing. They will all have a peak and a steady decline at some stage. Social networks exhibit this pattern as well.

Existing players keep playing but you rarely hear of new players; at best they may convince old subscribers to return.

Minecraft is also old but seems to be collecting new players decently well.