and before that we had a huge splintering of playerbase attention between public games and memes, which was heavily deepened by the introduction of bakerstreet. that didn't kill public games either.

public games will always have the advantage of bigger size, much easier recruitment of fresh blood, greater diversity of players and more vocal hype that sustains engagement. it's always been the case and imo unlikely to change. public games are open to everyone and reap the rewards of greater popularity for it.

signed, someone who currently only plays in a private game fwiw