Its not a shift, the point is still the same. If people are wiling to spend on them and see value in it even if you don't that is up to them. The events never promise an actual announcement, that is an assumption. And yeah I could see why that would be a bummer to some who spent the money going in with that expectation, but not sure why that matters to others especially on the outside not spending the money.
Every other major convention of entertainment has in depth announcements and more to showcase. Even if not surprise. They give announcements that are more in detail vs what is already known.
Modern entertainment industry does this for fandom, and Disney charges so much for it and is delivering less. So the point that Mickeblu made, made sense.