Anyone paying attention to trends saw this coming a mile away.

This is a multi-fold effort to control what people are allowed to consume.

Modders essentially make what a lot of people want to consume. If the purpose of ESG dosh is to get companies to brainwash and cultivate the audience towards a certain viewpoint, it's being thoroughly undermined by the efforts of modders.

Take-Two did something similar a while back with GTA V. I wouldn't even be surprised if no modding is possible with GTA VI.

Cultural cultivation requires complete compliance, and much like how most other media entertainment ventures have veered away from physical media toward digital-only access, gaming has been heading the same way, restricting access and limiting user control at every turn.

Don't be surprised if the next step is to ban independent emulation and force people to use "legal" emulators controlled by the rights holders.