Is it right to downplay BIGBANG as being "just for Asia"?

‌BIGBANG
already started their North American tour back in 2012.
At that time, their performance results were 4 shows with 40,000 attendees, with every single show being sold out; they originally planned 2 shows but added 2 more and still sold out.
After that, they did a North American tour in 2015,
which consisted of 7 shows with a scale of 87,000 people.
Later, GD did an 8-show North American tour as a soloist in 2017.
People say things like "BIGBANG is just for Asia" or "they are just riding the current K-pop wave,"
but BIGBANG had already been touring and active in North America long before that..
Their momentum was rising steadily but was halted due to military enlistment.
If they had continued their activities, they might have become even bigger artists than they are now.