I'm all for having species grant unique and interesting bonuses. I am happy they are moving away from tying your ASI to your species though. The game relies too heavily on your ability scores to have it be an interesting thing to tie to your race.

Or put another way, the game already doesn't make sense if you try and cram the way ability scores work with characters. A typical Loxodon (giant elephant person) is on average just as strong as a typical halfling. Put another way, your typical 45lb halfling swinging a longsword will deal just as much damage as a 450lb loxodon swinging that same longsword. Not to mention that both species can only get to a max of 20 strength, meaning the strongest halfling is as strong as the strongest loxodon (at least in terms of sword swinging). So with that being the case, I'd rather them not limit character options which is what gating ASI to a species does.