I assume they did the maths and decided that it was worth more to them to not do a VC and instead use it as a carrot for the online and then "remaster" some games to bleed the maximum amount out of us. Lets be honest, I doubt indie games and the large number of ports would have done as well if we had the VC from the start.
A subscription model is more profitable in the long run, just look at where the entertainment industry is going with Netflix and gamepass.