AppleTV gen 2 was manufactured from 2010-2012. Was declared ineligible for repair in 2017. It hasn't been updated past tvOS 6.x (I believe.) . Current tvOS version is 11.x . macOS, iOS etc have all received years worth of updates since.

So probably the ATV is looking for services or protocols that are no longer supported, causing lockups / weird behavior.

Should Apple provide some more warning about obsolete hardware? Sure.
Are they purposefully bricking these OLD boxes? Doubtful.

Fair warning, ATV3 is next, its been off the shelf since 2016. They're sub-$200 content boxes....a 2-4 year lifespan is fine.