Just doesn't make financial sense to only be able to sell magazines to a limited market, not when you can see every version of porn you want for free on the Internet.
This is a strange development--that they are actually testing the theory that "people read Playboy for the articles." But it probably has more to do the dying nature of print publications, in general.
I think part of the allure of Playboy was celebrities that you would never see naked in film or anywhere else would pose for the magazine in "tasteful" ways. I now see full frontal on FX and other channels.