My point is that however you feel about microtransactions they are successful and that's why they're so common.

With subscription services you and me can think "I want to own it and play whenever" but a lot (not only casual) players see it as "I pay a few $ and get access to a huge library of games I can try out for the next month".

As I wrote initially, just because more dedicated audience doesn't like the direction industry is moving in doesn't mean majority will care enough to stop it.

The idea of the whale is a false narrative created by the companies who run these scams to justify their unethical business practices.

The vast majority of people who make up that demographic are people who really can't afford to spend money like that, but do because the companies hired psychologists to tell them exactly how to exploit people's brain chemistry to extract money from them. This mostly includes people who are biologically wired for poor impulse control and an inability to perceive how much money they're actually spending. People like: gambling addicts, people with adhd or mental health issues, and children.

There are people with more money than sense buying this stuff, but for the most part, it's gambling addicts and kids emptying their parents' bank accounts for that dopamine fix.

Just another story they've spun to hide how scummy they truly are.