I come to this forum and what do I see? A community where people can suggest, discuss, and elaborate on a mod for a game that has long passed its popularity. And that's great. In these ways we can help to shape the mod in ways that we all feel involved in and as if we've helped maximize the amount of fun/content we can get out of it. 
I bring this up because more and more, its seeming that Major game developers are becoming hostile to their customer base.
Whether it be the constant "Say one thing, deliver another, banana the fans," racket that Bethesda has been on lately or the more recent Metro Exodus developer saying that if pc fans boycott Metro (due to the publishers insistence on using epic games stores launcher) Then they will unremorsefully release future metro games on console ONLY.

What i'm getting at is, we are a small group, making content for a game we love, and others are allowed to add in, compliment, or criticize all for free. And yet the content gets made, and the mod comes out.

Why are triple A gaming companies becoming so hostile to the people that literally line their pockets with money? What do you think will happen if this kind of behaviour continues?

https://youtu.be/jZTgSaokPzw About the recent Metro fiasco. Makes some very good points about the cut off between developers and fans.

 Just a thread for people to throw opinions into.

For Game Development, the biggest goal is to make lots of $$$. They don't care about the fan base's desires unless they know it is needed to make profit. There is enough gullible people out there who can be coaxed into buying something that is not of high quality, but complain later that it could have been better. People buy on impulse, giving developers the chance to release lacking games with good graphics as a marketing tool. When you do find a passionate development team who takes the gameplay seriously (seldom seen today), you can end up with a good product for your money, but otherwise will get the status quo with good hd graphics. A excellent example for you is the decline of star wars battlefront 2 by EA compared to the previous battlefront 2 released in 2005. People like the 2005 version since gameplay was far better with more unit options and ways to fight vehicles without having one yourself, even though EA's version has much better graphics. You even see duds like Aoe1 definitive edition that did nothing to improve the game and actually decreased quality in some areas in turn for again, better graphics unlike aoe2hd which adding value to aoe2 in general with dlc civs, a good multiplayer lobby, and increasing mod support with previously voobly exclusive mods like the triple tech mod being playable online. It all comes down to passion to make something amazing in all aspects if you want a product that the customer base wants. Otherwise, it is all about the $$$. The great thing about modding as you see in Wol is passionate individuals who work on bettering the game because they want to, unbiased by promises of making millions on it. You can be motivated all you want, but what you are motivated about makes all the difference in how a game or mod will work.

@VC24 I moved the thread in the proper subforum (The Post Office), in case you were wondering what happened

Personally, I have no idea what would Microsoft do for the aoe3 modders and modding community, but right now the community is growing thanks to the major mods. Yes, I agree that it's growing very slowly, but it's growing anyway. In certain cases, mods incite people to buy the base game, yet all those mods are free, so I don't think they would be hostile. While what you're saying is true, let's not rage over it because, well, companies being companies...