I have to admit, I don't really think I would use Reddit if old.reddit.com went away, the "new reddit website" is slow, and ugly, and fits very little content on the page. It seems it's largely optimized for posts which contain shallow content like "cat pictures" memes and other rubbish not meaningful discussions. I appreciate RedReddit, due to the fact I can fit many posts on my screen. Reddit also requires quite a bit of moderation as there is a lot very low quality content posted there. It's quite a tiring process.
Same, old reddit was fine on desktop, though still suck on mobile so I rely on Boost on my Android. There are some great communities on Reddit (patientgamers, bodyweightfitness, to name a few) that would be sad to lose.
For them it's likely about value of accounts, how much data they can sell, and they will hope that non-tech communities will carry people's "addiction". A bit like an abusive ex "you can't leave me because you'll lose XYZ" so now they've resorted to reining in anything that dare reduces or inhibits maximum revenue stream.
I think a lot of people are in the same boat, whether it be old.reddit or a third party app. I am one of those myself and I have a really hard time using the new version of reddit on either their phone app or new website. Hence why I'm here along with a lot of other people.
Infinity is (was?) so much better than the reddit official Android client. But if this keeps going all the 3rd-party clients will go defunct in one month's time. Reddit be killin' itself
I signed out of Reddit on the 12th and that was it for me. Unless people actually leave a boycott was/is an empty stunt and Spez knows a lot of people will stay regardless.
I used 3rd party apps exclusively for an ad free nicely curated experience. Without that, it's a turkey of a site and gets worse each year.
And even those who aren't using the 3rd party apps are going to see much reduced participation in their favorite subreddits. It will definitely change the Reddit experience.