Interestingly, a lack of time brought me to a different conclusion, and I'm certain this is the reason why "uncreative" and "unfun" microtransaction-heavy mobile games are still popular (the game in question is a mobile game). Note that I'm not defending microtransactions themselves, but the low-immersion simple and grindy mobile games that typically implement a microtransaction monetization model.

Conventional games require a certain commitment of immersion and structured time. But when I have the energy to immerse myself in something and the available structured time, there are certainly more important or interesting things I would rather pursue than a traditional game.

This is where mobile games come in. If I'm in an uncomfortable place when I'm prevented from or unable to do anything interesting, such as in public transport, it is comparatively pleasurable to grind a bit on these games. And there are quite a number of these slivers of time in my everyday routine. Mobile games are typically designed so that they are near-frictionless to hop in and do something without a heavy context switch. They fill an entertainment niche for me, and probably many others, that conventional games cannot provide. Previously, light games like Minesweeper or Solitaire filled this niche, but mobile games are of superior value since they offer a semblance of progression and community. Of course, among microtransaction-heavy games there are those that are more frustrating and exploitative. What I'm primarily playing is the game in question in the article, Dragalia Lost (DL), and I've had a pretty positive experience in the free-to-play and dolphin-friendliness monetization model of the game. Monetary purchases are typically priced out of the range of people who have little discretionary spending, and spending more money gives diminishing returns. It might be troublesome for someone with poor control, but for me I get as much of a kick calculating expected values of their different virtual goods on sale (and end up not buying them anyway) as playing the game itself.

they do. and some of it has been curbed by the japanese government (a somewhat effective block on gacha games, for instance), which nintendo then supports anyway in other markets (though at far, far more friendly rates than competitors, from my experience).

but compared to the other consoles or mobile? PC might compete and win, but it's a bit of a different beast in this respect.

yea, region locking is why the hardware I've personally bought was ds lite and then switch. region locking is abhorrent.

that said, they've been pretty good about maintaining quality, both in hardware (durability) and software. switch is changing that with a ton of 3rd party stuff, but thus far their track record is dramatically, orders of magnitudes better than PS, PC, XBox, or mobile.