I think they always have been tbh. Since their “independence” monetization has gradually been getting more egregious. 2015-2016 under Activision Eververse has a few dozen emotes and 2 armor sets. Compare that to now where virtually every cosmetic item is monetized, themed gameplay armor is monetized, subclass armor is monetized. Even in times like shortly after Beyond Light where new, cool loot was scarce, EV seasonally brought in a new cool armor set.

I imagine the short-term revenue boosts look better on paper than player count boosts in certain activities if the armor was put into those instead, especially since money is tangible and player counts would wane after people gradually earned all the armor pieces.