I think they’re doing the $-grab. Newer players don’t have any chance of getting a better game version or lots of energy and gem ads. They only get a variety of “worse” game versions and have to hope for the lesser of evils when they download.

Guessing from my business experience: In the beginning, they needed a large core player base to be very happy with the game so that it would get good reviews and so they could expand their player base. Now, they’re reaping their player harvest and changing to a $$-grab oriented strategy with newer players since they think they’re established enough to be immune to bad reviews and press.