Yeah, it's a huge problem. I actually don't play free-to-play games at all. If I see that listed, I won't even download and waste my time and money. It's just not worth it. This comes from someone who used to play Counter-Strike (though it was free back then). I must have spent at least like 8 hour a day in that game for like 8 years. I wasted my youth. Much rather pay $30 and play a game for 8 hours, and then get on with my life.
I've also seen the other end as a game developer. One studio I worked at, we released this free-to-play mobile dog game. I guess it was like Nintendogs (around that same time) and you just had a cartoon house and pet the dog, or whatever. The first weekend we launched, someone spent $1,200 USD on dog bones. On a free iPhone game. I don't think you could even use that many bones, the way the timer in the game worked, it didn't make sense. These people have like gambling addictions or something, there is no logical reason to spend over a grand in 2 days on some cheesy dog game. I mean, you could buy a real dog for that money. Or take a trip to Europe, or so many other worthwhile things. I don't know.
Also, game preservation. You can still buy old working consoles, even back to like Atari. Though there are some legal gray areas, emulation is still huge, and you can play almost ever single player game that ever came out on consoles (up to maybe PS2/Xbox, newer than that is kind of glitchy). The best handhelds are from Anbernic, you can find them on eBay and Amazon and Alibaba or wherever.
https://anbernic.com/
I have a few of them, this is my favorite, it can play anything PS1 and before (and I mean every single console and arcade game ever).
https://retrododo.com/rg351v/
And sadly, all the games they make now will be lost forever. Console games on disc may be safe, but many mobile and PC games require online services. Even single player games require Steam, Ubisoft Connect, Battlenet, etc. and the games will be dead if the servers are gone. It's really sad.