Elite Dangerous and most space sims are too niche of a game genre to ever go mainstream IMO.
One of the most popular and greatest video gaming trilogies of all time is Mass Effect, a story set in a Milky Way of the future. The action in Mass Effect takes place on a space ship called "The Normandy." Mass Effect was responsible for my starting to play Elite Dangerous in the first place. I started playing Elite because I missed being on the Normandy so much. I simply
had to be in a spaceship.
When I first started Elite Dangerous I was so elated, because I could see from the start that the Elite Dangerous universe could be an incredible template for users to create their own stories, not unlike Mass Effect. Elite had the same same universe, even more so; Elite had planets and stations for us to create clans and claim territory.
But then after thousands and thousands of hours playing, myriad longstanding bugs and a lack of tools for us to put a personal mark on the game (other than systems found), elation turned to resignation.
Imagine if upon entering a station one was immediately greeted by a Marlinist asking for asylum and offering missions to let you help them. Or being able to go on long sequential story related missions that would upon completion, award you a fully engineered model instead of having to grind for it? Being able to build bases to house refugees or the NMLA?
Elite Dangerous is an incredible possibility.
NB: Consider the popularity of Star Trek. In the not so distant future, Elite could be a template for Star Trek like adventure.