The wuxia authors wrote wuxia stories partly because they enjoyed it and had something to say, but also largely because they had to pay their bills. Jin Yong, Gu Long, Leung Yu Sang, and the others likely would have never written/published their classic stories if there had been no monetary reward for doing so. They all needed to eat, and for all that effort and time spent, they expected and needed the money that came with writing the novels.
Are there any moments in wuxia that you know or feel were written a certain way not necessarily because it was what was natural or desirable for the writers to include as storytellers, but were done purely with commercial/marketing goals in mind?
I've noticed two, both from ROCH.
1. Jin Yong's original intent for ROCH was for Little Dragon Girl to die and for Yeung Gor to hook up with Gwok Fu (or something like that). In any case, the famous happy ending that was published was not what Jin Yong originally intended. He ultimately published the happy ending because he knew that a bummer ending would likely cost him readers. Thus, Jin Yong went with what he believed would sell to the audience rather than what he originally wanted to do as a storyteller.
2. That whole ending scene featuring Cheung Gwun Bo and Gok Yeun at the summit of Mt. Hua was clearly a setup for HSDS, and had nothing to do with the story of ROCH, which had already concluded. That scene was pure marketing...very awkward in terms of storytelling flow, but what a way to tease the next book in the series!