While I see where you are coming from and generally agree, I don't think that comparing Splinterlands to any random AAA title is fair since the genre of the game itself is what also matters for both the gameplay and the accessibility. There aren't many CCGs or TCGs where you can pay 70 bucks and say alright, I'm ready to compete at the highest level. Card games generally involve a larger investment in order for a person to be able to compete, and have access to all viable meta decks. Take Hearthstone as an example. If you just buy the large bundle for each expansion that's 3x 80.00 = 240 bucks per year for just the existence minimum amount of packs which would not provide you with all the cards you need. There are also small sets released in the middle of each expansion which cost 2000 in-game gold, or 20 bucks. But if you want to get all the cards you might have to spend 300-400 bucks per expansion which means the game could cost over 1,000 bucks per year easily. And this is provided you do not buy any additional skins, cardbacks, etc. However, you cannot sell anything you spent your money on in Hearthstone. It is all property of Blizzard Entertainment and you have agreed to just use it according to their TOS. At least in Splinterlands whatever you have in your collection has value and can be sold.