Actually, I think the entire activity of trying to declare games "dead" or "thriving" misses the point. The exercise itself is harmful to the entire community.
MKX came out, and instead of celebrating a new popular game, everyone is arguing about bullsh*t.
"Look! MKX stream numbers are higher, SF4 is dead!"
"No, SF4 stream numbers are high, too! It's not dead, MKX will die in a few months!"
"KI tourney numbers are dying, DOA should have taken its place at EVO."
"Nobody plays DOA, it's dead."
We have troll articles on SRK front page weekly trying to get everyone on the MKX hype train, while simultaneously trying to crap on SF4 ("Move over SF4! MKX is headlining ECT!")
We have troll EH articles ranking games by their tourney entry numbers, and SURPRISE, SURPRISE, the comment section is filled with members of the same fighting game "community" tearing each other apart.
Meanwhile, in Japan you can easily find weekly streams of old games, new games, 2D games, 3D games, and everything in between. They just play. And, as a result they just get good at everything.
Not just some guy bringing a setup to EVO once a year. Mikado arcade, for example, has an ongoing ranking league for all sorts of old games. Mikado, in general, is just awesome:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPrifqgoJmq7UgmRkZUKTJQ
Heck, Japan just had a huge UMvC3 tourney a couple weeks back, while people in the US were proclaiming Marvel dead.
I think the Western FGC "death" culture needs to, well....die. It doesn't have to be this way, at all.
reddit tourney again, sign up closes in about 45 minutes
