It's a better alternative to the current experience of having existing projects practically held hostage. If you used Pantone colors previously, they now render as black until you either pay Pantone or install this.
Okay, what if they allow you to see the exact mix of that previous swatch so you can easily migrate away from the Pantone library entirely. That seems like a pretty poor way to handle a business relationship with the likes of Pantone, there would be 0 incentive at that point for someone to explore that (needed?) license on their own.
Replacing it with #AABBCC doesn't hurt them, because there's no matching that can be done any more across materials.