In light of this thread getting necroed (or more like recovering with 1 HP 1d4 hours after being stabilized at zero) I would like to say now from a little further in the future that I now believe (with comic specificity) that we reached peak (current wave) D&D on November 29, 2022. For that was the fateful day that self-described D-List (but actually quite excellent and totally worth watching) YouTube comedian Mark of Weird Movies with Mark posted a review of 1980s satanic panic classic Mazes and Monsters (video itself not important, but here it is for reference)...
...which had a tie-in 3rd party 5e compatible module inspired by his YouTube channel despite the fact that he had never, to my knowledge, publicly mentioned any particular interest in the game previously and his YouTube channel is a b-movie review channel with no other D&D related content.
Oh those halcyon days of late 2022, when it looked like we might be be on the cusp of an age where literally everything had a D&D tie-in product. Sure there was some anxiety about a needless edition switch, but D&D itself, in some form, seemed to be in endless Summer. And while there weren't actually nearly enough profits to go around for most the people trying to make money, it seemed like anyone so inclined could at least somewhat reasonably dream of the possibility of building themself some sort of little D&D adjacent niche (if only as a side hustle) as an independent creator.
But meanwhile, in secret, Sauron forged his one ring.