Nobody here is questioning if it’s a business decision. Everyone recognizes that it is one. People are questioning if it’s a good business decision. The content patches, from what I have read (again, been gone three years and only came back three days ago) have been lackluster and haven’t been actual content, just changes to existing mechanics that have required patches to undo because they hit everyone wrong. People are, understandably, annoyed because this also comes on the heels of the drama surrounding the premade Retriever that was poofed into existence if you paid money for it, crossing a line in the sand that since at least 2010/2011 the playerbase said they would not tolerate. The Summer of Rage came about because CCP refused to answer one simple question: will they sell pay-to-win ammunition or ships in the NEX? The game, at that time, was subscription-only. Here CCP tested the waters and got kicked in the dick for their troubles, and then they make this announcement.
The smart play would have been to either announce it for six months from now to give players time to see if new content comes out and if it’s worth paying the increase. Alternatively, another smart play (though likely not something the playerbase would be overly fond of them doing) would be to wait until after Fanfest, allow the players to digest whatever CCP throws at them, gauge reactions and then make a decision there. Instead, they did this, giving people 25 calendar days to consider it.
What’s more, there’s a section of the announcement that makes it seem like we can expect paid content, meaning you will have to pay a subscription to engage with it. In a game that suffers for new content, this is a bad idea. Even games like Dungeons and Dragons Online manage to put out rather regular content updates. World of Warcraft has multiple content patches per year, as does Elder Scrolls Online. If you were coming back like I am, read up on the development hell that has been the last two years and the complaints of no new content, then saw “We’re increasing sub prices 33%” alongside inflation in real life, you’d be reconsidering the decision to come back and pay for a sub as well.