While DC thought it was bold at the time (and honestly, it was), ditching the continuity with New52 in 2011 had some negative effects. And these were to be expected.
The main problem is that when you 'close the book' on a narrative, whether it's a series reaching an end, a character dying or passing on his/her mantle or a full on reboot of a character, franchise or universe, you create an 'end point'.
Collectors now have a goal for completion and fans will close themselves off to any future incarnations if the first one out the gate doesn't appeal to them.
Add to this that with DC, they had over 75 years of material that is still out there. And all the merchandising reflected the more iconic appearances of the Silver and Bronze Ages.
There's cartoons, movies, tv shows, action figures, games, underoos, t-shirts and all kinds of things that keep the classic versions of the characters in the public eye.
The characters post-Flashpoint were like 2.0 versions. Imitations of the originals.
And the originals had many more comics under their belts.
The original comics are also 'safer'.
You can get invested in a character and know that some creator isn't going to come along and turn them into a vegetable or have some d-list villain rape them out of nowhere.
Character assassination wasn't really much of a thing until Jason Todd's death and Hal Jordan's trip to psychoville.