In SaaS this is considered normal. At least 15% of systems cost is the complexity of having different tiers of service, and selectively turning them on and off, and making sure the system is still coherent when intentionally crippled. These are real engineering expenses to make the product deliberately less functional.

What fraction of Microsoft Windows engineering goes into the complexity of picking and combining the feature sets of Windows Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate? It isn't 0.

Engineering that is negative for user-value is routine in big business. It's a big part of what MBAs are for. It is such a counter-intuitive thing to do that it requires special training.