Honestly, through my perspective, this isn't just not the same as it was with Minerware. Many people really liked Minerware, and when it was removed as a game, a plethora of people were upset about this decision. As a result, many people on the forums made threads about how Minerware should make its return as a permanent game. What I mean by this isn't the same as it was with Minerware is that there really isn't a lot of people who think that this should become a permanent game, sure, there's some people out there who think that BlockWars should become a permanent game, but it isn't the majority of the community who think this. To sum it up, there isn't a surplus of people who support the argument that BlockWars should become a permanent game.
Also, there's going to be people whenever a new featured game comes out, they're going to make a thread stating why the game should become permanent. And if the Staff team decides to keep making the featured games permanent, things will start going downhill (assuming).