I stopped giving a damn about COD's future over a decade ago.
I got to ask: How are you not sure the brawler genre is in a new golden age? Games have been coming out like crazy since 2016. While they do have a point about long running franchises or brawler adaptions of popular licenses, there are other brawlers that met success. Sure, the genre is still somewhat niche, but it doesn't mean all of the other games did not do well, nor got overshadowed.
Final Vendetta do well, because of its asking price ($24.99 for six levels and some padded unlocks, compared to Shredder's Revenge at the same price, but sixteen levels and online 6 player co-op), and competing with not only
Shredder's Revenge, but all of the other games acting as or inspired by
Streets of Rage/Final Fight.
SOR4 itself is still dominating right now.
Easy Allies must have forgotten about
The TakeOver, Fight n' Rage,
Jitsu Squad,
Way of the Passive Fist, the re-release of
Scott Pilgrim, and
River City Girls (itself getting a sequel coming out next year). For further irony, while
RCG is a spin-off part of a long running franchise, a lot of gamers did not know what
RC/Kunio-Kun was. Yet the game met high and went above sales expectations, bringing in new and old fans.
SIFU is a 3D example, but it looks like they completely forgot about that too. Big note: more brawlers are coming out either at the end of this year or next year on nearly all or most platforms. I get not wanting to be wrong or jumping the gun, but it looks like the Easy Allies has not been keeping up with the news. If you see this many brawlers coming out, then yes, it's a new Golden Age! Don't be ashamed, nor be afraid to acknowledge it!
Check the time stamp within the quote for full context.