the "casualization" of games is simply due to the fact that gaming is a trillion dollar business nowadays so trying to cater to the lowest common denominator is a simple mechanism inherent to any entertainment industry that wants to make profit
but the market is also big enough make a money on niche audiences, just don't expect AAA companies to do it regularly.
thankfully with stuff like patreon and kickstarter there can be amazing stuff catering to hardcore audiences pining for the old days, making amazing things like divinity1/2 possible
i don't see john romero putting out an amazing fast paced shooter concept and trying to get it crowdfunded, mostly likely because he's full of shit and has been coasting on his quake 1 maps for the last 25 years
Harsh but very true... although if you played that doom map he made a while ago, it shows that he is still good at designing levels, so I really don't know what is stopping him because it seems like he is still capable of doing good work. Maybe he is lazy or something because I totally forgot that he was going to release a demo of blackroom or whatever the hell his canceled kickstarter was, I mean what happened to that?