We have Elder Scrolls: Oblivion and the Horse Armor content add-on to thank for the popularization of 'Micro-Transactions'. It was a cosmetic armor added to the players mount and it added no value in the game other than making the horse look fancy.

Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 games were rife with DLC and when loot boxes entered the scene later on it started a whole ordeal that went all the way to government offices! The ride has been crazy.

With recent multiplayer games though the story has been 'How long can the developer support a game?' and the question from the company is 'Well how profitable is it?', well to appease players and not seem like they are giving people with money an advantage, the answer is 'Cosmetics Items'. Companies see the money flowing in and allow the developers to continue work on the game while the fans continue seeing 'new things' added to their game.

So I see it as with any new market, it had a slight ripple, followed by a huge wave, and now everybody is bobbing in the current.

Thank you for the post. It is going to be interesting to see how companies figure out the laws that are being implemented upon 'Loot Boxes' and predatory transaction systems.