My point is that Elite is being built unlike most other games. 1. It's an MMO, sort of, so does fall into that realm 2. It's build cycle is 10 years or so, so again, similar to WOW. Most other games are single release with a few DLC's in the next year or so (FALLOUT3/4, SKYRIM, JUST CAUSE etc ). If you had to compare the player base of WOW with E D over 2 years what would the comparison be? Try to be objective, okay? They wouldn't. The DLC add-on's for WOW added content that furthered the game, they didn't add content that for many players you could / had to ignore (PP, CQC, Engineers). If you want to go back to a time when no-one cared about stats for games then I suggest that you un-invent the Internet because that is what you would have to do.
Regarding less players: yes there are times when there are less players online, work, holidays etc all create variability, but the trend is what matters, and E D's trend is not looking promising.
Regarding the Core Player base: FD have to keep the servers on to keep the BGS running so you can play. If you do not attract new players and keep the old players engaged you cannot earn revenue to pay for those servers. What do you do? So your Core players might seem to be strong, but financial concerns may mean you will be strong without a game. Additionally, Core Strong players != Happy players...