From a business standpoint, the choice is obvious. No matter how much it pisses off some hardcore FG players. most of the money comes from people who aren't ChrisG, or Mew2King, or Infiltration. Striking a balance between competitive and casual play is a far better option than doing whatever the hardcore community wants. They aren't as unified a voice as they like to think anyway.
Ono (the producer for SF4) stated Street Fighter 3: Third Strike was a designed as a super-hardcore game. The team wanted to make the most technical SF possible without worrying as much about sales. And the game's performance reflected that; while it's considered by many hardcore fans to be the best SF in the series, it took ten years to get SF4 because Third Strike's shit sales made the whole brand toxic. Only through lowering the learning curve was Ono able to convince Capcom's bosses to give it another go.
Both "vanilla" and Super Street Fighter IV went on to sell something like 6 million units combined. It's a lot of fun, and for all the bitching from the elitist hipster cul-de-sac in the FGC, it's still a very worthy tournament fixture as well. I see nothing wrong with Sakurai trying a similar approach.
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