No, but you can download the APKs anyways. Which is most likely exactly why this is being implemented. I doubt many developers of free apps are going to turn this feature on.
Yes they will. This tool would force users to always use the Play Store which would increase the download count on their app, which would help its ranking in the Play Store. Every last single developer is incentivized to use this.
On the other hand though, the amount of people who sideload free apps is very small because that’s only really interesting for people with degoogled smartphones.
Kinda makes sense. A paid app on Google Play is a license to download the .apk file(s). Then a user could make copies, and without DRM, it'd be the same situation as with copyrighted movies and whatnot.
I'm not saying I support them, it's just that they are like this for a reason