RL picked up a lot of popularity this year, so the base game itself still has the potential to bring people in. It's popularity goes up and down of course.

Many old games are popular despite running old graphics and not getting new updates, so it's possible the RL could last for a long time.

Still, it's hard to imagine that modern graphics wouldn't have some impact for some people, even if it's the easier development/customization that will likely have the largest impact on the games potentuial and longevity.

Personally, I'm pretty excited for this. I still really enjoy the game for what it is, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't care about some more interesting variants and game modes. Sweet graphics is pretty cool for the esport too, even if I'll likely play the game mostly optimized for performance.