I won't really argue if the game is dead or not, but I'd rather care about telling why so many people aren't around; in all honesty, Toribash lacks to keep players from leaving the game.
The reason is probably because there is not much to play in-game other than ranking up belts and/or chat with friends. The ones that are still around for years are because of marketing, chatting with friends in bet servers or ranking up their belts.
I'd say the devs are doing the best they can to bring new Items/events for the players who enjoy those. So let's not let down devs as well as players that are currently around by saying the game is dead.