"Free" is the ultimate pricing tool. No one can argue or make anything cheaper than free and those with audiences and ad revenue (Google, Youtube, Facebook, Instagram) already have the eyeballs to make free worth it. Smaller developers, studios, companies, can hardly compete with these apps because free always trumps paying, even if it's only $0.01.
The willingness of people to open their wallet and vote with their wallet is the direct cause of this mess. I have to be truly honest here and say I am guilty of this as well. Paying for a game? Good luck unless I truly know it's going to be great (Overwatch, for example). Let me try it out for free, and fund it with cosmetic micro-transactions.
I'm not sure I understand your point about big vs small companies. The article states:
"In Olaf’s Adventures, published by Disney, clicking on a glowing cake that is not marked as an ad takes the player to a store;
Disney is not hurting for money, so why are they employing similarly devious tactics? The problem is obviously not just with "smaller developers, studios and companies".
Smaller and more frequent micro-transactions have been the norm rather than the exceptions. Micro-transaction and lootboxs, this is the world we live in. If we want to change it we have to vote with our wallets.
The willingness of people to open their wallet and vote with their wallet is the direct cause of this mess. I have to be truly honest here and say I am guilty of this as well. Paying for a game? Good luck unless I truly know it's going to be great (Overwatch, for example). Let me try it out for free, and fund it with cosmetic micro-transactions.