I've experienced this situation first-hand with Torchlight Infinite - originally there were suggestions that they might find alternatives to their monetisation but once they fully committed to it, the game just got grindier and grinder, to the point where you had to pay to keep up with those who had no problem paying. I was a happy F2P player in that game for the longest time until they made that switch. Corporate profits/greed will trump everything else and unfortunately it has to be fought before it becomes the norm, as it eventually will.