I don't think Electroneum will die, it will continue to survive but for the 'hobby' miner with just one rig it's a bit depressing to see that they are paying more to mine than they get in returns so they will move on to some other coin that, at least, they will break even on.
It is depressing for every CPU and GPU miner, not just for hobby miner (like me).
Let's not forget Monero (and then cryptonight coins) purpose was to be easy minable with CPU, besides the privacy thing.
It is bad for the coin if they do go this route as it is what its name a recognizable one in the first place.
