I get it, unfortunately those threads are not great examples as there are either no responses/upvotes, or at most 6 responses… If AGS is focusing on these then something is not working properly.
Looks like there are no high engagement threads advocating for leaderboards.
players also asked for balance and bug fixes in multiple threads with actual content. Yet, those are never addressed. AGS chose to implement leaderboards from 4 posts with 0 participation rather than fixing things that are glaring and sought after by a much much larger population of players
I see you understand that the number of players asking for something doesnt always translate into what the devs will prioritize first. Be that for better or worse, for the players or the game.
Popular as in a popular feature that people want to see in the game, or in your words „people asked for it“. The best at playing dumb when it fits his argument.
Nobody asked for Leaderboards and all that your post did was reinforce that idea.