The internet, understandably, lost its goddamn mind.
Now, Patreon did back down – temporarily. They ultimately grandfathered all of the extant creators as continuing to enjoy payment bundling, but I understand that after a certain flag day, new creator accounts work in the new unbundled way they wanted to roll out all along.
But the important thing to realize here, as a whole lot of us suddenly realized back in 2017, was that the numbers didn't work without bundling.