So they ignore the Fortune 1000+1 (the up-and-coming 1000). They also stop providing a learning/familiarity path.
I'm already seeing SMBs looking at KVM, Proxmox, Xen, etc. When these young engineers/managers/architects grow and move to Enterprise, what are they going to recommend when VMware is $300/core?
I'm all for (as in I push) recognizing the value of (even expensive) licensing when it reduces engineering costs and complexity, but that's what I'd call a "metric shitload".
A mid-size business could easily justify transitioning to just about any other VM solution when faced with that kind of increase. One 16-core host is now $5k in licensing, practically doubling the cost - and that's an annual cost for years - saddling "future IT" with that cost that can now no longer be invested elsewhere.