The whole scheme would collapse. It only works as long as people reasonably believe paying will solve the problem for a long while. This is why many ransomware campaigns pretty much run a callcentre with support for how to easily buy BTC and make the transfer.
If there’s only one group running the scheme it works, but if there are many, it becomes very difficult to coordinate and limit repeated demands. Soft of like how oil producers can only keep the price up if everyone joins the cartel. Each member will make more money if they defect.
