In the washup after the OGL debacle, and the cost increase of bboks, WoTC affirmed that they were still going to produce physical print books as long as it was financially viable.
These are only the beginning step in turning a supertanker, but the mimicry of the games industry observed by a OP does indeed set a direction of travel - one that will eventually likely end up with no books - or more likely, limited run, collector's edition books at double or tripple cost - with the rest being available with the WoTC season pass.
Speculative? Yes. Unlikely? No
For some this is fine - they want to play the current version and have no issue. For others, the lack of ownership and accessibility to the content is an issue. It is also an issue if your campaign happens to span over a change in version/non-version like the current one, especially if access to earlier content is withdrawn or surpressed.
TTRPG rules are not quite like software, although there are similarities. There are less dependencies that force you to a new version, so it has to be driven by fomo, or making access to previous version more difficult.
Personally, I am one of those with campaigns spanning versions, and will continue with the 2014 ruleset before probably jumping ship altogether. Thankfully not reliant on their digital distribution platform, and have always enjoyed browsing the books and the artwork, and there's a twinge of sadness if that eventually goes away (it's a tactile thing for me at least)