I can only say that if they are moving the blasters from the ride yet know how liked they were by the public, I can only assume that Merlin would only be doing this overhaul unless they have a future interactive dark ride in the pipeline to make up for the loss of the blasters for Duel. The moment you start hearing the GP lamenting that the blasters are gone is the go ahead that Merlin is waiting for to put forward a new dark ride to answer those demands though I do strongly suspect that if we get an interactive shooter ride again then it'll be a pure screen-based attraction and built put into small space E.G the Nickelodeon building that can be done quite cheaply. They already did the same with GG in an existing building so why not the same again there and let's face, that area in general needs more attractions to get folk to enjoy the area more.
I honestly wouldn't have a problem with that sort of ride personally, more dark rides are what the park needs in the long term if they are to become open more of the year which all provide more undercover attractions much like what Project Horizons is hoping to do and much like how you can't go wrong with many coasters, so too with dark rides.