... for now. They'll inevitably try this again the moment they think they won't experience such blow back.

The only way to truly change direction away from stuff like this is to change leadership. They currently have someone from EA - "let's introduce predatory micro transactions to fucking everything", "it's just a sense of pride and accomplishment" EA - at the helm. It will surface again.

Eh, the damage has been done unfortunately. I wouldn't start a new project on them after all of this hot mess.

Least everyone claiming they were gonna charge for pirated copies can shut up now, numbers are gonna be self reported

Link doesn't work for me.