That was absolutely a thing when I was a kid with playstation and N64, the difference being it was only a couple games at most per year to have such an effect, and you only had to buy the game. You didn't feel the need to spend $1000 over the next couple years buying each new cosmetic that all your friends have for $10-20 a pop.

You also got the value of, you know, playing and enjoying that game. If you spend $60 on a game you play for the next month, that's far more value than getting 3-6 skins at one every week or 2 and basically never using it again after you get the next one and honestly not really adding any actual value or fun overall to the time you do spend playing the game.