I think it's more that they are in touch with the community, especially Perkins. I could be wrong and this is going to be a good thing, but from what I've seen and heard they have been the ones pushing back against WotC and Hasbro corporate. They have been with D&D for a long time and have been playing even longer. The money grabbing "lets make everything easier and put out all new books" stuff isn't from them and all the OGL stuff and Hasbro listening out the D&D name to make shows and to gambling companies has absolutely nothing to do with them. Just because they are the leads of design doesn't mean they don't have to answer to anybody. If anything all the very valid points you made about not listening to players is just going to get worse now.