Lanefan
Victoria Rules
Perhaps.There's a fundamental problem with @ECMO3 's premise.
How many of those that bought 1e, 2e and/or Basic/Expert books have also bought 5e books? In other words, even if he's right and AD&D sold so many copies - how many of those people are still in the hobby but not into 5e? There's no evidence that there is this huge, untapped market of Gen X'ers (which is what we're talking about) who are interested in D&D, but not 5e.
There's a considerable overlap already. @ECMO3 needs to provide some sort of evidence that there would be significant additional sales if WotC were to try to chase gamers who played in the 80's, would be interested in playing D&D, but feel they are not being served by 5e.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that's a pretty niche market.
But perhaps consider this: many of those who were in college during the 1e boom are now at or approaching retirement age, and thus can soon-ish expect to have a lot more time on their hands for hobby-recreation activities. Is there enough potential market there to be worth chasing? Can't hurt to try.