The market is different, but not in the way WotC want it to be.
And the 3D VTT thing is a huge gamble. They're putting tens of millions into it, and projects like that fail all the time, or equally often, go wildly over-budget and over-time (pretty much the same thing). What is intended to be a two year project could easily end either getting cut off before it has a truly usable product, or taking, say, five years instead of two, at which point the cost would be about $175m (!!!).
We could very easily see WotC or the D&D IP actually getting sold off in attempt to recoup losses if the 3D VTT is anything but an astonishing success.
I'm sorry, but I'm very skeptical that WotC's data is proving useful to them, given their decision-making.
The idea that you intentionally drag yourself through the mud in the court of public opinion is absolutely laughable conspiracy-theory bollocks.