I agree that less competition is a loss for consumers, however, think about it... even if 777 encroached on WW2 territory with the merge, there was always going to be a loser.
While many saw CoD dead on arrival, obviously with the proper resources and management I have no doubts IL-2 could have been stable, but from the sounds of its development history, it was just too riddled with strife from the beginning.
Where some succeed, and other fail, ultimately, they fail together and I in my opinion this is what happened to CoD.
And it's not the first time in the history of business and games or anything for that matter that a project has failed and investment wasted. So even though we have been given a bit of insight into the tragic failings of CoD's development, why are so many surprised?
I certainly know (as they basically stated it) that BoS won't be at the quality of CoD, and they IL-2 series will be changed forever but sometimes change is what is needed. The world revolves around money, and at the end of the day they need to survive as a company. Imagine how ruined IL-2 truly would be if the studio went 100% bust! (Not to say they didn't
)
I certainly don't believe that MG are being selfish here. Selfish, would be to abandon the brand altogether and leave us with nothing.