Sure does look like I poked the bear here a bit!
Let's clarify a couple things about this...
What this is NOT about:
- Not getting things for free
- Getting things for free, because that's... just silly.
- Whether or not one is equipped with adequate self-control
What this IS about:
- Charging a full AAA game price on a title that feels woefully not "feature complete" at launch, and then,
- Charging nearly that price again for an "optional" - but lets be honest, pretty much required if you don't want to be hugely disadvantaged - DLC that adds those features that feel pretty central to the game, and then,
- Charging more money still for cosmetics, which can only be purchased with real money, which is fine, since it's just aesthetic and no one has to buy them, but then,
- Obscuring the real money cost of these micro-transactions with an arbitrary middle-man currency, and pushing it to the center of attention by claiming "just keep playing the way you always do, and you'll earn <enough to point out but still an ultimately negligible amount of> ARX!"
This sort of behavior has become commonplace in the game industry. Everywhere you look, there's controversy about the shady ways studios are digging every nickel and dime out of players that they can. Is Frontier free to engage in the same practices? Sure. And they should be called out for it accordingly, just like everyone else. That's all.
Let's see... They are actively developing the game since 7 years with 70-100 developers, plus support, QA (just a bad joke) and all the other people required to run a company. They are releasing major updates every 4-5 months with free content for both, owners of the base game and Horizons. They have server costs and never asked you to pay a penny apart from the initial release. They gave you the option to earn paintjobs by playing the game (=by having fun) which happens to be the only additional income they get.
Having paid cosmetics is something the community decided during the time of the DDF. FDEV also made it very clear that stuff like planetary landings and other significant updates will be a paid expansion before the game even was released.
I can blame FDEV for a lot of things. Placeholders, questionable design decisions, bugs, bad communication, etc. But I can't call them a shady money grabbing company, I'd say their business model is entirely fair.
If they would be the evil company some people want them to be we had pay to win mechanics like instant shield generation. Credits for money. Extra hull hardness. Loot boxes. Bored of SC transition? Just buy the SC booster pack. Etc.