I honestly don't believe the sport will turn out like the wishful thinkers of this thread seem to hope it ends up (rider owned everything) because of this reason; Corporations pursuit of profit and trendsetting.
Even riders want to make a brand that sets the trends/standards and some have it thusted upon them, but getting both demographics( Kids On Scooters/Actual Scooter Riders) is next to impossible thanks to us. We may not outnumber but we heavily influence any KOS that has been to a park or has seen an ASR in the flesh.
MGP, has the KOS demographic, is a corporation. I know the guy behind it, you'd think he could rob it blind, but you would assume he either can't to the full potential he hopes for or more than likely he is going very slowly to make a sustainable profit for years to come. Truth is he won't (or hasn't yet) rob it blind, he manages it in a fashion enough to run the company until the next line comes out and pay any investors off. He can and has every right to do that and even if he wanted to he is one of 3 companies with the reputation to do both demos and we all know it. As long as we keep holding back a standardization of parts, then when we won't end up like the hardware sector of skating and blades, simple, low cost, standardized. Don't ask about apparel, videos etc. I couldn't care less about that crap, not my field of expertise.
What I'm personally waiting for is the age of the full potential of materials, think BMX now. We aren't close yet, we are like 90s BMX. I do know a few working on it, but will be the most important thing to happen to us. This is where we will see a change in the outlook of a scooter.
R&d isn't a problem, people not willing to pay out of their comfort range is why we haven't got much product as advanced and still as simple as BMX (skating is simple but not overly advanced tech wise)
Either way this doesn't affect me in any way, iv'e got my way I'm going with what I'm doing and it doesn't need a market to hold up. You got enough money to buy a $600 scooter? That's enough to make your own if you know where to go.
TL; DR we got a long ass time before we end up anything like skating money wise, so don't worry about it unless you gonna make your own stuff and want to become successful