When it was announced DX11 would not be supported, I worried that it was the beginning of the end.

Unfortunately IMO, there dosen't seem to have ever been enough developers working on 3DGS full time to compete with the other engines. Its evolution has been way to little, to late. Alas, JCL has stated that currently 3dgs is not even a primary focus for the developer(s). A8 to A9 has been the longest interval in the engines revision (over four years), and still no A9 in sight.

3D Gamestudio began as "Animation Construction Kit 3D" in 1993, the same year "Doom" came out. With the DOS based kit you could create "wolfenstien type game levels. The engines executable is still named "Acknex", for "Animation Construction Kit NEXt (generation)". And after 21 years, it is still a kit somewhat. This is fine and may appeal to some, but it is not a product that will bring in the capital needed to continue its viability in todays game engine marketplace.

I really wish things where different as I've always been a fan.