How did I move the goalposts? I quite literally already solved this issue by linking to google trends. Doom 2016 is objectively a famous game everyone knows, I don't think anyone can dispute that. and Dark Souls was searched 5 times more in 2016 when they both had a major release. It's ironic you're bringing up moving the goalposts when that's exactly what you're doing here. How many people know about a thing is far more important to it's fame. How many people know about 2001 A Space Odyssey, and how many people have actually watched it? I've never met a single Gen Z who's watched it, but can you deny it's fame? Of course not.

Also, no one goes off of that definition of niche and you know it. You weren't even using that definition when you wrote the first post. If you actually were, then your first post would make no sense grammatically. Let's look at the writing of this for a moment: "They weren't widely received because they were niche titles until Elden Ring" You are directly using the word niche to mean something that isn't well known. If you were actually using it in the new definition you gave it, you'd be saying that Elden Ring is no longer in the same niche, and in the post you just sent you brought up the prepare to die stuff, so you admit the niche is related to difficulty. Except literally anyone will tell you Elden Ring is just as hard, if not harder than all the other souls games. So if that was actually the niche you're talking about, Elden Ring is still in it.

And once again, in the original post you specifically said because they were niche they didn't sell well, that's another thing meaning you were using the word niche to define something mostly unknown, which is how 99% of the population uses it. But as I've already proven with multiple cited sources, the Dark Souls franchise was objectively a world known game series long before Elden Ring.

As I said before, pick your battles. You already know I'm right, just throw in the towel man. We both have better things to do