The answer to that question depends on how accurately Honda judged market demand and whether they depended heavily on forum input to guide product development. "Enthusiasm" on forums does not always equal "purchase" at the dealership. And forum members are not the same as "ordinary" motorcycle buyers (who are riding, not pontificating). In the mid-late 2000's, I watched Yamaha retool the VMax to match what forum participants said they wanted and saw it fall flat on the sales floor. And more recently, Yamaha got suckered into following forum enthusiasm for the kick start only SR500 and brought the JDM SR400 to the U.S. market, where it languishes today. I'm not very knowledgeable about BMW marketing or forums, but I'm pretty sure the dirt only HP2 model or dual sport version haven't been big sellers for that company.
My gut tells me that if 500 pound, multi-cylinder, dirt focused dual sport motorcycles were what the market truly wanted, VStrom, F800, and other road focused DS owners would have been Ohlins, Wilburs and other high tech suspension component builders best customers for the last 10 years. And I wouldn't expect niche tire builders like Heidenau and Mitas to be making the best dual sport tires (according to the most enthusiastic of the enthusiasts) while the big name tire manufacturers look on.
There is some demand for the AT and it should have good sales in the first months or year as the hard core off road and "gotta be first" guys snap them up. What happens next depends on how well CRF-AT meets needs and expectations of "ordinary" buyers. I hope it succeeds and Honda uses the AT platform to build other versions for other market segments.