I think the bigger pull is because of the bigger audience. Without the modding scene, I don't think that would necessarily make open source games multiple times more popular, even if they had some percentage of the artists making them content, because popularity seems to be highly influenced by current trends, and slowly advancing open source games don't seem to fit in with the trend model vary well.
No matter what the next Elder Scrolls or Fallout game is like, as long as it supports modding (of course it sill), there will be a bunch of people playing it (even if it's widely panned), and there will be a bunch of mods and talent making art for them, because that's how you get tens or hundreds of thousands (maybe even millions if everything aligns) of people using what you make.
No matter what the next Elder Scrolls or Fallout game is like, as long as it supports modding (of course it sill), there will be a bunch of people playing it (even if it's widely panned), and there will be a bunch of mods and talent making art for them, because that's how you get tens or hundreds of thousands (maybe even millions if everything aligns) of people using what you make.