Overly complicated world-building requires mountains of expository prose to expose the complexity. No one wants that. They want characters and drama and entertainment. If you want world-building over a good story, read an RPG manual.
On the other hand, if the author doesn't do world-building, that often leads to illogical situations and issues with internal consistency. For example if you have people living on floating islands they obviously will prefer bows over swords; or sniper rifles over pistols. If they don't, there better be a good reason (that makes sense in the world).
Ann Arbor became Anaba, Michigan became Meshaga. Russymons are Rust Demons, automated hunter killer drones that sometimes come to life if disturbed.
Sorry, offtopic rambling. Cool to remember how much work I put in!
No it doesn't. The presence of the complex world can surface in subtle ways, without the need for extensive expository prose.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impression_of_depth_in_The_Lor...
The lack of detail and explanation here does work that no amount of exposition could do.
As a child that bought and read dozens of RPG manuals, which I never played, there is obviously a market for both.
I read a lot of fiction, but the setting is usually my top interested, and the plot and characters are mainly a tool to explore it.
There is obviously a spectrum, and markets for different styles.
Only if the world-building is done for a book or a movie.
Exploration-based videogames, RPG settings and fictional world Wikis are just as valid use cases. I suspect such formats are going to grow more popular.