According to Freya Holmer (who I trust since she has some insight into what's going on within Unity), their own employees were actively trying to warn them abou

According to Freya Holmer (who I trust since she has some insight into what's going on within Unity), their own employees were actively trying to warn them about the public response to the proposed change, long before and leading up to the release. Trust takes a lifetime to earn and a moment to destroy. I think this could actually kill Unity. It's easy to opine from the armchair, but what I think they should have done is gone down Unreal Engine's path - buy up valuable properties like Quixel and give yourselves a unique selling point. Then they could have at least said they're adding new functionality to justify the price hike.