This isn't invaded related, but i'm going to give my opinion from everything that I've been told/heard.
Skep's been doing these events for more than a month now, and he's probably given away around 30k+ from these alone without anyone even paying a dollar to play. We all knew that at some time it had to stop; it's just diminishing returns at this point. The man can't give away $1,000 at will, he needed some donations so that he could increase the prize pools and give himself even a little profit so he could put that money back into his servers, videos, etc. Regardless of what you guys think, it's a business, and he needs to make money to keep the business going. He even responded to the community feedback and asked you guys for your opinion, then he suggested that he would host some events on Invaded without a pass, completely free, for buycraft store credit. Overall, money doesn't grow on trees, he hosted 30+ events for free, but now people are gonna need to pay a little to have a chance to win a lot. He doesn't have to host these, but regardless, he chooses to for the content and for the community.