Well, maybe. If I'm a musician, and I want to be relevant, I can drag the world over to my music or drag my music over to the world. It may be that becoming "relevant" means making pop music.

I can't speak for him, but if he wants to stay true to his vision, the most likely outcome is to influence the world to come a little closer to where he is. Dragging himself over to where the games industry is today would mean making games that aren't very Chris Crawford at all.