First of all, the idiot who proposed this scheme + the idiot who approved it - should be reprimanded by the Canon top management.
Canon made a terrible mistake. Crippling its own lower end cameras in this way is asking for trouble.
It sends all the wrong signals about the whole Canon company to consumers.
Consumers may think that Canon is becoming desperate.
It is a case of shooting oneself in the foot. This is not a technological over sight nor a lack of engineering prowess.
Instead it is a manufacturer deliberately handicapping its own product so that it is sold to the consumer as a self-disabled item.
Canon is a billion dollar company with net sales of USD$35,603 million in 2018. That is about USD$35.6 Billion.
Camera related sales is just one part of the company, which is big in Office Automation products.
Canon does not need to commit this fiasco. Because flash sales are not significant to the overall pie.
If the Canon flashes are not selling well, the correct solution is to make a better flash or a cheaper flash.
When Godox or competitors make good flashes that fit Canon cameras, it is a GOOD thing.
That helps to sell the Canon camera body.
Because the overall package of camera body + cheaper Godox flash will be within the budget of very price sensitive potential customers.
There is at least one precedent of another company making the same Fatal Error.
In the days of film cameras, Minolta changed the hot shoe design to a Split Rail design.
They wanted to force consumers to buy Minolta flashes.
It did not occur to Minolta that buyers could have been discouraged from buying the camera because of the problems created by the Split Rail hot shoe.
The eventual demise and collapse of the Minolta company should have been enough warning to Canon, not to repeat this stupidity.