On broader range everything in the game is part of the experience. However there is a significance order to that. Core gameplay loop comes first, every person who plays the game experience this. Back story is lore. To me lore is also important and a very enjoyable part of the games, but some people are not interested in this and they tend to skip these parts. If they are optional (like reading books in Skyrim or reading pamphlets in Shadowrun etc.) they don't even bother with them.
Citation: Cyberpunk 2077, Baldur's Gate 3, I can even put Stardew Valley in this list, though not as vocal as others. I didn't see anyone bash these games as being woke, or maybe they are a minority if there are.
Not sure how commercial flop part is related but from what I understand from the people who talk about this, yeah it's more or less something like that. Though I can easily say that many people have different definition of "woke" in their minds and it shows. Consistency differs.
This is my conclusion, from what I see, it is mostly about TQ+ part.