The Business: "The Same, But Different" Is Not Just A Tabletop Problem

Want to know a big driver in the decline of anime and manga?

Pathological risk aversion, especially in an environment where the consequences for failure are high and the margin of error is non-existant, is what made this happen in Japan. The attempt from within to fix the problem, while appreciated, will not succeed because this is the sort of problem where you must have outside intervention to solve it because it is a problem that comes from ordinary, sensible responses to existential threat.

This means that "The same, but different" is not just a Tabletop problem, or an Anglophone problem, but a global one. Everywhere is enshitifying. The mismatch between expectation and reality alone is so severe that it's forcing people into the retreat of the familiar just to remain functional between their ears. Not sane, functional.

Mammon Mobsters are responsible for this form of the collapse pattern; the Molech Maniacs would be going full-on immolation of whatever they control, burning it to ash, instead because their mission is more important than the institution/culture's survival (and the elite within expect to be able to jump ship anyway).

The collapse pattern, therefore, is not going to be confined to Tabletop. It's not going to be an Anglophone issue. It's global, across all media, and it's all due to the confluence of Network Effects, Revealed Preferences, and Macro-Economic Forces.

You should reconsider your plans if you think you're going to be making a living via media production.