It worth what it's worth, but here is what I think led to the decision to drop career, and why it was ultimately a necessary call.
First, the game suffered from scope creep. It got too ambitious for what the team could actually handle. Developers sometimes makes this mistake, and Kunos developers are only human.
Second, ACE needs to convince enough people to drop the original AC, in order to stand a chance at being a success. To do that, it needs to make the previous game redundant, and that means featuring what made the original AC grown to the point it is now, and that was not a sophisticated career mode, it was extensive modding support.
I think extensive modding support cannot coexist with the kind of career mode most people are looking for. I could very well be wrong, but I suspect most people want a career mode with meaning behind its progression. In other words, your level, your XP, your credits, the cars you own, are a direct reflection of your dedication and skill at the game, compared to others. A system where your single-player progress has some connection to what you can employ in your multiplayer exploits.
Extensive mod support means the good mods, but also the bad mods, also known as cheats. Cheaters would pick that progression system apart, giving themselves all the advantages early, just to leave others in the dust.
There are certainly people who wouldn't be bothered by this. All that would matter is that they know their progress is legitimate. However, I don't think most people think this way, and would complain about there being no point, no meaning in progression and its stats, if someone can simply edit a few files to complete the game.
In my view, these are the factors behind Kunos' decision to abandon Career: a need to capture what made the original AC great, combined with the fact that the kind of career they could implement, would not satisfy what most people would want out of it.
As for my thoughts on the most recent information about the direction the game is taking, I'm happy. I like games that just give me content, and then let me choose how and when I want to challenge myself with that content. For me, the driving, the racing itself is what provides the dopamine, rather than just being the method through which to get to what provides the dopamine.
For me, games only truly become fun when they've been fully or sufficiently opened up, to the point where all I could want can be accessed whenever. I've reached the conclusion that hours played, does not mean hours enjoyed.
