Yes, there was a lot of FUD leading up to November 2012. Pretty much like now %-wise, and probably like spring of 2020 will be.  Now that we are into the next 12.5 BTC era, we'll see what happens.

The advantage now is that we're nearing the end of the asic order of magnitude increases like there have been for nearly 4 years and will be back to growth in line with user growth and regular silicon improvements in the next year or so which should help to let more people mine and decrease consolidation.