[Simlasa]

I agree that relentless marketing would probably drive up the number of BRP players... I mean, that's really the strength of companies like TSR and Games Workshop... having flashy product design and lots and lots of in-your-face ad copy everywhere... sometimes to the point that the product is an ad (like with GW's White Dwarf magazine). I don't think the strength of either of those companies has been their rules design nearly as much as it has been the constant barrage of support and good fluff/artwork (primary to selling, secondary to playing).

I also think, though, that deep down BRP is a slightly more rarefied taste. It's not, at it's core, based on the same cinematic ideals as D&D and a lot of other 'new' games... it doesn't pull it's punches and is more 'simulationist' than the current trends seem to favor. I think 'simulation' was more of a flavor-of-the-month a decade or more ago (would anyone try to put out Phoenix Command these days?).
I mean, especially for people in the U.S., the entertainment we get is fantasy versions of real life... where all problems are solved by the final reel and the hero almost never dies. It's built into our culture to want that kind of mythic superhero who the bullets always seem to miss but who never misses his target.
The popularity of video games and MMPORPGs just reinforces that sort of thing... you'll die, but only for a moment. It's been a long time since I played any video games that ended with GAME OVER flashing on the screen.

Gritty, deadly games are not so much the darling of gamers these days (if my reading of RPG.net is at all correct), so games like COC and RQ2 seem to increasingly rub players the wrong way.
Of course, BRP could be tweaked to play 'cinematic' but like was asked previously, would it still be BRP?

Personally, I want BRP to keep being rum-raisin to D&D's vanilla... I want my games to be gritty... I want character death to continue being the big stick that beats some sense into the player's choices... but then I'm not a huge fan of Hollywood blockbusters either.
I'll take less support if it's better support... sure the shelves are full of D20 books, but how many of those are worth reading?

I guess I'm saying that a lot of the reasons BRP is not the top dog are also closely tied to why I like it so much. It's a work of quality vs. just being 'product'. I hope Chaosium promotes the new book for all they're worth... I hope it's got good art to pull people in... I hope there are supplements and world books to follow... but I want them to be well made/thought out... and not try to compete with something they fundamentally (and thankfully) are not.