I do think a lot of the YouTubers were a shill for the game, quick to sell their soul and credibility (if any to begin with) for a view/sub/like. Once the views started dwindling, they moved on to whatever the new pop culture thing is.
Coming from both sides of the fence, gaming and simming since the mid 90’s, gamer’s attention spans are short. Most, if not all, will eventually move on to the next latest and greatest title, leaving the simmers as the core base. But as you said, it would be nice to convert some of the FS gamers to FS simmers.