Flatlander
Species Developer
Back in the day, there were not many games to choose from.
Now there's a lot of different options with way bigger companies and tons of money which means more advertising towards those games.
Besides, the gaming community isn't playing as many 2D games anymore which means Tibia isn't attracting new players anymore, hence why people growing up and leaving the Tibia makes the community smaller.
This is a huge part of it.
Issue #1:
When you make a game, you are competing with EVERY OTHER GAME IN EXISTENCE.
That means your OT Server is competing with Starcraft 2, Fortnite, DOTA2, League of Legends, World of Warcraft, and every other game.
Also, TONS of good games are free now.
Your OT Server needs to be more fun then all of those, and that isn't easy.
Issue #2:
Also, back in the day the scripts that were being made for servers were very simple.
You needed Annihilator to be made, or a Task NPC, or a new monster, or a lever that moves a stone/makes a bridge/etc.
Now all of those have pre-built scripts you can easily find. And the "Scripts" people want are more complex and require much more skill. Meaning there are fewer people capable of making it and there are fewer people willing to make it.
Issue #3:
Making and hosting a server is easier than ever now. And working for someone else you often are making scripts and servers you don't even like. You are just doing what the game designer tells you to. Which isn't fun.
So many people just go off and make their own personal servers.
Issue #4:
RL Tibia is now an OT. Has donations, high exp rate, and lots of players. RL Tibia used to be a low-rate server, then OTs came out and were High-Rate which attracted players. Then RL Tibia changed their game to be high-rate and now OTs are just for custom servers.