The gender patch came out in June 2016, not January, so this is not exactly an annual event.
I like free stuff as much as the next person, and if you look back, they've patched in practically an EP's worth of free content over the years. But in my experience playing online games or games with an online update system, a patch is meant to fix bugs and tune the game. I don't get where the expectation comes from that major new content is going to be added for free with every, or in fact any, patch. People seem to build that expectation up and then many express disappointment when it doesn't happen.
We are not owed free content.
