I guess this perfectly relates to your previous article when Brian Gardner stated, "My biggest regret was not starting with (or switching to) a recurring business model, I think I left a lot of money on the table by not doing that..."

Is this WP Engine's attempt to rectify Brian's regret?

Unfortunately, Genesis Pro misses the mark in so many ways. Charging $360/year is laughably uncompetitive as they seem to be selling you, in part, what's already included in their own free Atomic Blocks collection.

Many of the free blocks collections on WordPress.org, such as CoBlocks and Ultimate Addons, have more than the 17 custom blocks offered in Genesis Pro.

Also, comparing what Genesis Pro gives you at $360/year vs. what something like Themeum's Qubely does at $99/year and, again, Genesis Pro falls terribly short.

Quite frankly, this is a bad move. If Genesis Pro was included with the Pro Plus All-Theme Package, it would have made it much more attractive to new customers and encouraged current customers to stick with Genesis.

My agency has long abandoned Genesis but still supports dozens of Genesis sites that will eventually be transitioned to other themes. Genesis X or Genesis Pro at $360/year isn't going to change. However, including these plugins and other value-adds at no additional cost might have certainly made a difference and convinced me to stick with Genesis.