Just read your article, so here's my 2 Cents: Dungeon Bowl is very niche within a niche. It does not make sense saleswise. It also doesn't seem to be more applicable than for one match in a hundred compared to regular BB games. The old guard doesn't play anything else than LRB...well....mostly...a very stereotypical statement at that point, but let's exagurate a bit, eh?
Why is Blitz Bowl so popular?
Blood Bowl, as much as I love it, is an old, old game, with clunky and slow mechanics compared to other games nowadays. This tells you a lot about classic tabletop games at that point, because when I first bought BB, it had the reputation of being "uncomplicated" compared to those.
Blitz Bowl on the other hand is fast and simple. A new Blood Bowl edition would have to draw new players. The old folks mostly play only the LRB version of it anyways. As a company you don't lose much here. Aside of buying a team here and there (if not from thrid party copyright infringers) the "old players" do not really matter anymore. They simply do not generate earnings and that is what a company needs if it is to survive.
So IF there will be a new edition, it would make most sense if the ruleset gets reworked to be slim and the game a lot more fast paced, even for casual players. How can that be done? Don't ask me. I'm just saying that, if you want to attract a different audience than the usual nerds and grognards, the game has to change essentially and that is what we all kind of fear - it might be a huge improvement, it might be a huge setback. From the point of view of a company, the new edition would have to be "a good deal" to at least make some of the older customer layer buy the new edition. Eventually some of them might accept a new lean rules version.
Now, before people start throwing the stones...
No, this is not meant to be a rant, I just threw some facts into the room. You can accept it or don't, I do not judge and I'm okay with any opinion.
Yes, I like the game a lot, but hands down...I've maybe played four games in total last year, up to today. It eats a lot of time.
No, I do not play on tournaments (anymore).
Yes, I consider myself to be a casual player managing leisure time in balance with everyday life. You know...kids, wife, job, and so on.
Yes, I believe the Blood Bowl community to be somewhat "special" even amongst the tabletop players in general. And that I think of in both ways, positive AND negative.
Yes, I will of course go on hobbying Blood Bowl - I have always loved Football and always loved Fantasy. So I feel pretty much to be the target audience. Wouldn't mind a drastic rule change at all, due to that.
Yes, I would be willing to see a chunk of the Blood Bowl players break off with a new rules edition. I've seen it before with AoS, and I thought AoS did a good thing for the community. There is more players than in WHFB ever before and believe that it could be the same effect in BB.
Allright. Open fire