Tabletop is declining overall. D&D hit the rocks hard with 4.0 splitting their base three ways into 3.5 hardcores, Pathfinder fans and 4.0 players. Not to mention the retroclone folks who are playing 3rd party versions of yet older D&D. White Wolf did the same thing to themselves with New World of Darkness. Split up an already shrinking base.
The energy is in independent RPGs these days. Online sales of .pdfs and print on demand books. Even larger publishers are going that way. Keeps overhead down and reaches more potential users directly rather than having to hope there’s a FLGS or chain book store around that will carry your product.
It’s been said before but I think D&D’s goose is pretty well cooked now. If you want easy, fun to play with out much prep, classic DIY D&D there’s, well, classic D&D (Rules Cyclopedia, OD&D, 1E, 2E) and the retroclones. If you want maps and minis and tons of customizable options there’s 3.5/Pathfinder and the ocean of content that’s already out there for them (I don’t even like D&D and I’ve got a shelf of books that are just amazing in overall utility and quality here). If you like, relatively, quick prep but more focus on the tactical game at the expense of reams of customization, D&D as boardgame, there’s 4.0.
Obviously they’re going to try to sell supplements, canned settings, quests and miniatures. They’re not going back to good old “play it in your imagination” times while encouraging players to create their own settings.
I don’t see where they really go. But maybe they’re smart to be reaching out the the players. Maybe that will generate some goodwill, interest and excitement. White Wolf jumpstarted, rather unintentionally, Old World of Darkness by bringing in the community to help design the Vampire 20th Anniversary Edition. That was going to be a one off, maybe something to get people oriented to the setting before the MMO came out (plenty of time for that now), and a love letter to long time fans and the LARP community. It sold so well, despite being insanely pricy, that a companion volume is in the works as well as Werewolf 20th.