There are text editors and there are IDEs, and each has its place. Sublime Text is, to me, the best GUI text editor around.
(For those with the patience to master them, Vim or Emacs may be both objectively and subjectively better. But I've never had that patience. Emacs has a hell of a steep learning curve.)
You can't knock Sublime for not having the features of an IDE, because that's not what it is. If we keep pushing for Sublime to be as "full featured" as an IDE, we're gonna kill what makes it great.
VSC seems to be trying to be both, and by all appearances, those who like it, like it a lot. I'm not in that group, but I admit that there may be something(s) outstanding about it that I just haven't yet appreciated.
I started out with vi and then Vim. When TextMate came out, I became an avid user. I liked how easily I could customize it but then it seemed kind-of abandonware (could be just my own perception) so I moved on to Sublime Text. I played around with others during that time including Visual Studio Code.
All of the editors I've used are great and I don't knock them at all. About two years ago, however, I realized how much I love Vim. It is also easily customizable but most importantly, I just plain feel really productive with it.
I loved TextMate.
But I think the facts speak for themselves now...
- their site is now little more than a vanilla bootstrap theme
- their News section hasn't been updated since 2014
- the blog appears to be miscellaneous developer notes that may or may not even be related to TextMate
...I'd agree with the sentiment that development appears to be dead.
That said, I think Sublime is as worthy a spiritual successor as any. (It also may be the biggest reason for TextMate's demise.)