I imagine that the simulation hypothesis is reversing the explanandum. Consciousness is already the simulation of the Universe. Asking if the universe is a simulation while using a simulation of the universe as your baseline creates a necessarily unfalsifiable question; Every aspect of what we term "reality" reduces to axioms that are inherently rooted in the conscious perception of our sensory apparatuses. Any experiment carried out can only affirm that yes, everything ultimately is a simulation, because it's already a more local simulation.

I want to be clear though that I still think that such experiments are fruitful as it creates a better understanding of how digital consciousness maps to the analog universe, but I don't think it will ultimately answer the questions that the authors think it does.

I mean it either is or it isn't. Either way it doesn't answer any fundamental questions at all. It's simulations all the way down.