Not really. G-sync was established before the free and open freesync and VESA adaptive standards were published. The issue was that nvidia locked it behind their license fees, not that it required extra (extremely cheap) hardware. Same thing is happening here.

As far as long-standing, extremely profitable monopolies go, Nvidia is the ONLY exception (so far in human history) in that they have never stopped or slowed down innovating and furthering advancements in technology.