I think the business model is basically perfect, and a wonderful thing for gaming.
These games are free … UNLESS you have some huge entitlement issues that make you think that YOU are special, YOU should never have to wait for anything, YOU shouldn’t need to work towards anything, it should be handed to you without effort, and that no one should ever, ever be allowed to be more advantaged then you. If that’s the case, yeah, you are going to spend a LOT of these games, but I’m also going to guess based on the presence of the entitlement that you’ve got a fair bit of disposable income.
Or maybe you’re just rich AF? Maybe you look at the timer that says “play for an hour or $1 to unlock” and think “well, I make $5000 an hour and I want to experience that thing, so paying is the better option.” Maybe you’re used to spending money to slightly enhance a temporary experience, like paying for fast track or front row tickets to Hamilton vs seeing it in the back. I mean I pay like $200 a year in park fees for the 2 or 3 times a year I go camping. What’s valuable to one person isn’t the same as what’s valuable to the next. Some people will only lease and rent cars because the value of never driving a car that’s older then a few years is more then the value of owning one as far as they are concerned.
Or maybe you have a bit of income, and you really like the game, so you toss in a buck to support them. It’s Patreon without someone taking a 30%.
Or maybe you’re broke or your don’t think the game is that good. Then it’s free.
Again, anger at this business model is generally the ultimate in entitlement, where people scream because you feel you should be able to just pay $20 and get everything.
What about people that don’t have $20? I think it’s awesome that entitled clowns and ultra rich people are literally paying to get them the game for free.