Autodesk Maya is not a “niche community” neither is Maxon C4D
Sure Blender online communities have alot of clueless newbies but in the Autodesk discussion forums you see people with professional portfolio links in their bio to their work for major animation & VFX studios.
Most of them have never even heard of Reallusion much less use its products.
And just check the job listings over on pro sites like Art Station.
There are two software skill sets you never see listed
Daz & Reallusion.
BTW the icontent vs Export content is all moot to me as I create my own content
My “theory” is that this apparent renewed focus on Icontent might indicate the export content is not selling as well as they would have hoped
as those other 3DCC & game engine communities have their own native content ecosystems
at cheaper prices with far LESS restrictions.