It's the natural process in a capitalistic system. First, you build something that everyone loves and build up a huge stockpile of consumer trust. You use that

It's the natural process in a capitalistic system. First, you build something that everyone loves and build up a huge stockpile of consumer trust. You use that consumer trust to gain market share, and eventually a lot of market power (though you never use those words or imply that you know you have market power). Then once you're dominant, you exploit that consumer trust to make more money. It worked pretty well for companies like Amazon and Google. WotC are just doing it a bit blatantly, or perhaps people saw through the ploy more easily than they had anticipated.