It never used to be "free". It was "free-to-play" and had plenty of not-free-at-all in-game-purchases. The relaunch is better for customers because of that, one flat fee up front instead of being filled with the bullshit nickel-and-diming that the games industry is utterly obsessed with.

The reason I dropped AC on smartphones is that Nintendo went completely overboard with their monetization of it. Loot boxes, paid currency and a subscription service on top of that. At some point enough should be enough but not for Nintendo apparently.