Man, I can’t understand what they’re thinking over at Autodesk. Right now I have the student license for Fusion 360- I was (still am to be frank) thinking about becoming a paying customer at some point- occasionally they do a $100 a year sale, which is a far more reasonable price than it is normally. But when they keep pulling crap like this, it makes it real hard to commit to, especially with Onshape existing and SOLIDWORKS having not-terrible personal offerings now.
If I were pulling the strings, I’d go all in on trying to convert hobbyists and students- pricing at $100/$150 a year all year round and add a monthly tier for $15/$20. I don’t even mind locking features like simulation behind a paywall- 99% of users designing for 3D printing, 2D manufacturing like laser cutting, and basic CNC machined parts don’t need them (though I’d throw in a few free cloud credits for the value-add, and make them a bit less of a rip-off). What do I know though.
One thing I suspect- there are a lot of people using the free license to make money (which is not allowed), so I guess they’re turning the screws on.. their paying customers? Much easier to just make the software good value IMO.