You're completely misinterpreting. It has nothing to do with elitism. I couldn't care less if someone is or isn't as fond of RPGs as me, or if they are an even bigger fan. I'm not 14, for crying out loud.
What I'm talking about is the difference between if a handful of games are mainstream, standing as anomalies in their genre, or if the genre as a whole is mainstream. Not every RPG needs to be a massive hit, but when 95% of a genre is incredibly niche and not touched by the typical gamer, how can it possibly be a mainstream genre? Look at the mainstream genres in gaming's history. Platformers, fighters, first-person shooters, etc. Obviously there were plenty of games in those genres that went relatively under the radar, but it was widely accepted that those genres at their heights were one of, if not the, most popular genres, that developers were cranking them out left and right, that practically every gamer was buying them, and they were buying more than just 1, 2, 3 of them. RPGs, outside of the select few that break through to the mainstream, are marketed to their loyal diehard audience because publishers KNOW that they aren't mainstream and that they can't count on the casual consumer to buy their product.