Well, we'll theorize on, keep the faith alive, and live on hope agaionst hope that one day we will be redeemed (no wonder that so many active Christians can be noticed across the forum [Ooops, don't pick that up, let's make it a separate thread, okay?])...
Since I'm not in the gaming industry, I can only take a long shot - but because I'm somewhat 'in' the industrial software industry, maybe I'm not too far off target.
Wing Commander is an asset, a trademark, still a benchmark that other space operas & sims have to compete against. It's almost like Elite, but with less of the Braben/Bell backstory problems. People argue about it, love it or hate it, compare the versions, and discuss the movie [to keep this neutral] - but they still talk about it. It's like the old VW Beetle - gone, but alive.
EA management does know this. If they're not totally out of focus, they keep track of developments, and compare the market success of recent games in the same genre. If X2 ore EVEonline sales increase, the WC asset tag will rise in the books.
BUT: I don't believe EA will actually make another WC game, at least not soon. The idea of space sims, exploration & trading games, and interactive storylines has been bled dry at the moment. Ironically, if there were less space sims now, the chances would be better - but after Freelancer, the Star Wars franchise and the few quite profitable MMORPGs, the market is not yet hungry enough for the return of WC. To come back to the Beetle - that was the opposite situation, a market in demand of a nostalgia car *with* the latest technology, and except for the PT Cruiser nothing else around. But EA will not stand up to face to competition in the current situation, for fear of being just another serving of the same.
I do believe that EA will sell the license sooner or later. If one of their high-potential highly-developed well-promoted new products will fail to get its margin worse enough, they will need a booster to their cash flow. With lots of small companies acting up, with people marketing games they developed with a very small budget and crew [hey, Milo..], corporations are quick to think about divesting and cleaning out the attic. It will be an expensive article, and it will need years of lawyertime [I don't have the wildest idea about the copyright situations of all WC games, and sundries], but some company will buy it. Since they're not talking about it now, I suspect that that's what's in their strategy plan - unlike the endless announcements and reveries about Frontier's Elite IV, the asset is hidden to keep its value.
So, yes, going by past experience in software licensing, I believe that there will be another WC title, someday. Another company will buy the rights (maybe only to one aspect, or one license to make another game), and sit on it for a while, maybe employ some talented kids and let them work on it in the backyard. When the time is right, they'll throw it on the market, and either rake in our money, or just shrug if it fails. Quality? By today's standards, technology is not the problem anymore, and talent is readily available [have you CVs ready] - so, yes, there's still one out there. Probably made by M*******t [*shudder*], probably featuring Anime characters [*shudder*], probably needing an motion-sensity camera gadget that reads your movements and cuts you right into the FMV. Probably with cuddly toys, probably with a flowerpot on the dashboard.
Won't it be a day...