I tried to give a bunch of modern games a shot and they're essentially slot machines that gate game progress with pulls. I'm glad console and PC gaming hasn't been completely taken over by this, but it is very close.
The mobile market figured out[0] a way to monetize a customer base where the median will not pay, but the mean will. Unfortunately, the method they figured out is really harmful and really profitable. Profitable enough that other platforms are copying it.
[0] Technically many Asian MMOs were already doing this for a while before mobile apps existed. But it was the mobile market that has researched and data-scienced it into the mainstream monster it is now.
Not that it should be blamed fully on mobile, it was already getting worse on itself, with cosmetic paid "DLC" that could be (and sometimes is) present on the base game files at release but exists purely for monetization purposes (Oblivion's horse armor) or exclusives limited to a certain retailer.
There are several concerns with dark patterns that we have to pay attention nowadays, specially when children are exposed to these games, which did not exist in the past.
If you go further back in time, you have arcades, which exposed children of yesteryear to the same tricks mobile is doing today.
Have you seen what happened to the Pokemon games?
Pokémon Sword/Shield released Nov. 2019, a two part expansion released June/Oct 2020. Current costs of £50 for base game, £27 for expansion.
Pokémon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl (remakes) released Nov 2021. No DLC. £50 for base game.
Pokémon Legends Arceus released Jan 2022. Free content addition in Feb. 2022. No paid DLC. £50 for base game.
Pokémon Scarlet/Violet released released Nov. 2022, a two part expansion released/releasing Sept/Q4 2023. £50 for base game, £31.50 for expansion.
So, a smaller gap between the base-game and expansion, but a comparable price differential.
Now, if you were talking about the quality of the latest games you might have a point - Sword/Shield were OK with a weak story. DB/SP were remakes, but added little to the originals (and arguably took away some things). Arceus was great! A really interesting game. Scarlet/Violet - some good ideas, but very poor execution.
> From a 'Mansuba' - A Shatranj problem had this story:
> There once was a chess-addicted prince, Murwardi, who had wagered and lost his entire fortune in an intense chess session. In his desperation he offered his beautiful wife Dilaram as stake, and was losing the game they were playing for her. In the above position his wife called out to him: "Oh Prince, sacrifice your rooks and not your wife." This her husband duly did and saved her with a combination.
(Unsolicited advice is allowed if the player would have found the moves himself. No one would have dared to suggest a woman could do something a man couldn't)
We've come a long way, or maybe not since now we [pretty much] force people to carry around gambling devices if not an entire casino.
It seems we always end up doing things against our better judgement?
Shogi doesn't have any other sites as modern and polished as Lichess or Chess.com (except for a Lichess port (lishogi.org) which has failed to gain traction), so I think there was a vacuum that allowed something like this to become popular. If people were still playing chess only on old clunky websites then maybe Zynga would break into the market with a hot new chess app that requires Facebook login.