This argument assumes that authors are free to choose other publishing venues. In truth, the present regulatory regime in most countries uses publishing records

This argument assumes that authors are free to choose other publishing venues. In truth, the present regulatory regime in most countries uses publishing records as a major indicator of research quality, making it desirable or researchers to publish in as high-impact journals as possible. As a tragedy of the commons, the upside of a high-impact publication for the researcher is much larger than the marginal cost of buying access to that same work. Even for well-established researchers who are not themselves dependent on publishing track-record, there will most often be junior researchers on the team who are.