A Famas F1 was my first AEG, I still remember buying it from a hobby shop in Edinburgh in 1995 ish, never realised how powerful it was and shot through a window at our farm.
Folk do drop out, that's the nature of any hobby. But actual game days don't depend on... influencers... turning up. Us peasants can have a great day without it being InstaFaced or used as the raw footage for some YouToob fictional production.
I was a regular member at a certain site that a certain YouTube asshat filmed at occasionally. I haven't renewed my membership this year and have gone elsewhere close by because he started turning up a lot more and the site would cater to his filming over the players enjoyment.
I think the cost of living, the inability to readily get kit from suppliers who are abroad and the rise of the pootube attention whore are all factors.