Well, bearing in mind that this whole thread is going to be entirely speculation based on unfounded assumptions (unless Aaron makes an appearance
), here's my largely unstructured 0.02:
Who's to say SEV won't include 3D graphics? I bet Aaron could do it if he wanted to.
Aaron has been working on SE for, what? 7 years now? 8? That's not a passing interest. OK, he might be sick to death of it- I don't know- but I'm guessing he still loves it, and is still pursuing his vision of the perfect 4X game. If his vision is anything like mine- (and so far it's pretty damn close.) then there is a long way to go. Superlative the game may be, but it still only scratches the surface of the vast universe of possibilities that could be explored in the 4X genre.
MM and Shrapnel have proved with SEIV that you *don't* necessarily have to follow the mainstream to make a success of it. They've done it once and can do it again. I see no reason why SE should not continue to evolve, other than something drastic happening to Aaron or him having a change of heart.
BTW, Although I think MoW was out of line in the Last thread, I don't see any evidence of trolling here and I think this is a valid topic of conversation. We're all capable of being civilised, and there's plenty to discuss.