I would like to think their resolution or thought process is a little more advanced than "Oh just hike up prices of subscription" - This can very easily lose them profit as much as it would gain them profit, after all, you make it non-feasible for a lot of people to sustain a consistent subscription.

About the only plausible one I could foresee is them adding more cool stuff to MogStation, or, well, at the very least increasing the pace with which they put stuff out on the MogStation -- But then my only doubt is here, if this were within their interest then they probably would have done some moves already, seeing as many, many people have been gagging for them to add more cosmetics, e.g., Hilda's hairstyle.

It does of course affect XIV in some shape or form, but the latter notable comment you've mentioned is just taking an extreme of one possible solution.