That declaration may indeed be premature. The electric guitar found it´s way into different music categories. Sites like Youtube will also help to keep it alive. People are bound to hear Carlos Santana or Jimmy Hendrix and some will think "Wow, I want to do that too".
A retailer just beyond my backyard carries 335 T models, 187 made by Fender. Overall it would be around 2000 different models. They would not do that with a dead instrument.
I own one too. It can be played in several neighborhood friendly modes. Starting with quiet just for myself, using head phones all the way up to sharing with the entire neighborhood using a powerfull amplifier cranked up to the max.