What Could The Future Hold For Ruger Revolvers?

I was thinking the other day about how Ruger has gutted their revolver lineup when I came across a couple articles about Taurus offering its Raging Hunter revolver--their equivalent of the Ruger Super Redhawk--in .350 Legend:

• "Taurus Introduces a Handier 8 Inch .350 Legend Raging Hunter Revolver"--The Truth About Guns. 
• "Rifleman Review: Taurus Raging Hunter in 350 Legend"--American Rifleman.  

And then I saw the video below in which Smith & Wesson is announcing a couple additions to their classic line of revolvers: the Model 1917 in .45 ACP and the Model 22 in .45 ACP/.45 Colt.

 VIDEO: "NEW Model 1917 & Model 22"
Smith & Wesson (4 min.)

It reminded that the revolver market may not be what it was decades ago, but it is far from dead. So why would Ruger, other than the Wrangler and Super Wrangler products, abandon that market?

    The statement from Ruger does not completely foreclose their return to the revolver market. Ruger's statement indicated:

"These decisions reflect our review of consumer demand, evolving market preferences, manufacturing complexity and the long-term profitability of each product family," Clary said. "The goal is to focus our resources on the products consumers want most today while creating capacity for future product development and manufacturing modernization." 

Additionally, Shooting Sports USA relates:

    “This does not necessarily mean these product families are permanently discontinued,” Abbey Clary, Ruger’s director of media, advertising and public relations, told American Rifleman Executive Editor Evan Brune. She added that some of the names could return in new forms, though Ruger has nothing specific planned and no date for any comeback.

    There’s precedent for that. Ruger’s memo points to earlier pauses of the 77-Series rifles, the 22 Charger and the SR1911, along with generational redesigns of the Red Label shotgun, Ruger American Rifle and Ruger Precision Rifle. Two of those once-paused lines, the 77-Series and SR1911, now find themselves back on the bench. 

But if you look at the Taurus revolvers in the articles cited above, I would point out a couple things that set them apart from Ruger's hunting revolvers: the aluminum barrel shroud and the long Picatinny rail for mounting optics. Ruger can't really tap into the nostalgia market like S&W and Colt, but their revolvers have fallen behind on weight savings and features for mounting optics and/or lights. 

    With that in mind, I would observe that we've seen other firearms companies pull products from the market while they updated designs. FN did it with the Hi-Power; Beretta did it with the 80-series Cougar handguns; and Walther recently pulled the PP and PPK with the promise of introducing something more modern. So perhaps Ruger is looking at similarly revamping their revolver lines to offer more features and modernize the manufacturing.   

    I obviously don't have any inside information. This is just my musings on what might be going on. What do you think?