I'll copy and dump my comment from the SW topic here because I think Nirolak has the right idea giving this its own topic. It'll be interesting to see if Jason responds as well.
I don't doubt some devs are behind it as well. Everyone wants an even better car, an even bigger house and even more shiny shit to surround themselves with. Look at how quickly PUBG got loot boxes and MTs implemented when it started exploding in popularity.
People like money. Money is often the pursuit of happiness for many. While publishers often get the brunt as they're stereotyped as suits in boardrooms all drinking whisky and chuckling sinisterly about their latest yachts and how the shareholders want their millions, many devs, especially higher-ups in dev positions, will be GaaS'ing the fuck out of their projects as well. While it's unlikely Bobby Kotick kicks back and gives a shit about The Last Guardian, even people in positions of being "gamers" working in the industry can still get $ $ in their eyes and stampede off after doing everything possible to turn their "art project" into a whale slayer.
The balance between exploitation and being happy making a good living is what is getting totally out of balance with some of these games. Genuinely turning paid products into F2P games is understandably pissing off many gamers who hand over thousands each year to their hobby. When some games start behaving totally like a 2nd job, the fun starts to stop.
In competitive FPS games some devs need to remember many of us poured hours into CS/TFC without any fancy bells and whistles around "progression". It was about slick gameplay mixed with a series of individual experiences of each playthrough a map. Teamwork, individual skill and winning the CTF/Death Match round. That was the gameplay/progression loop that gave thousands of hours of fun. I actually ditched TF2 when Valve ruined it.
Not obsessing over clothing, hats, crystals and gems, booster packs, cards or whatever other GaaS money exploitation system gets rammed in. In the case of SW, legitimate P2W.
