People don't have the money, at some point all the game publishers will go under or consolidate as people just play already released games and use self hosted servers.

that is correct, you can use Geyser to allow bedrock to join java players. For console or any bedrock client that lacks the direct connection with servers you need to also do some DNS shenanigans on the client where you use a jumper server to jump to the server you actually wanna join though.

I also recommend something like floodgate for authentication so you don't need to have the server in offline mode or have the player need both a java and a bedrock account

edit: I forgot to mention, keep in mind that this is still using JAVA edition as a backend. So when there is feature disparity between bedrock and Java, the java mechanic is what takes precedence. The biggest whiplash for bedrock vs java is usually the fact that java edition minecraft has the stamina system for attacking, so you can't just button mash to attack or you waste durability and have lower attack damage.