Sekiro is the latest to prompt this sort of discussion.
- Do developers have an obligation to reach a broad audience?
No. - Would they generate more profit by integrating accommodations & prioritizing greater diversity from conception, for comparatively little cost/time, encouraging a wider variety of gamers to enjoy their product?
Yeah, probably. - Should they compromise their "vision" by diverging from it in order to satisfy their fans, or potential fans?
I mean, maybe, good art comes from personal growth and learning from pertinent criticism.
There's also some mystical value in a unique perspective unswayed by outside influence, the allure of the auteur.
...Depends on where the desire for profit, and community-mindedness, and self-expression, and challenge, and the obligation of bowing to corporate overlords, and the desperate scramble that is professional games development all overlap, I imagine.