I don't think most casual players like vf. It's a lot more complicated than most fighters and the characters don't really have much charisma.
It's more about the latter than the former. VF isn't THAT complicated. A few characters like Akira have nearly retarded strict timing-to-command inputs for so-so results, but otherwise, it's just a hair more nuanced than other fighters.
Sega should just start a brand new series with a similar fighting system so that they can actually put a much better level of pizazz to the characters, level design and story cuz fighting games by nature usually has those elements in spades (stories be dumb and inconsistent, but at least they're usually entertaining and colors their characters all the more), but VF always been completely bland and uninspired as fukk when it comes to all that. Even the games' boss is literally a faceless entity with literally no style of her own. Music is also always forgettable, at best.
I understand the philosophy of going against the grain of style over substance, but there's supposed to be some sort of balance and VF has absolutely none.