Depends on what you think they gave up on. Do you mean the dumb "fur vs anti-fur" thing or do you mean the loss of the fandom to overly-political, emotional, drama and sexually obsessed individuals?
If it's the latter, then yes, they gave up. As an O.G. fur who both knows and has spoken to a lot of others of my generation, a lot of them don't want to have anything to do with the fandom now, but few are willing to speak about it due to the harassment they'd get from other furries.