Well, the recent airdrop from Catizen is a clear example of the fact that in-app purchases can become almost the main criterion for getting the airdrop. Actually, I have noticed that many projects are trying to make money on users through mandatory TON transactions, not just X Empire.
Of course, if you participate in one project, the transaction of 0.2-0.5 TON seems small. However, if you participate in several dozens of similar projects, it doesn't seem particularly profitable.
Yes, you are absolutely right.
For me, I spent about $20 on Catizen to activate the game's auto mode and reach a good level, and in the end I got 83 tokens. I don't know yet how much these tokens are worth and whether they are worth the amount I spent or not.
Some news says that the token price could reach $1. Assuming this is true, I will have gotten about $63 for free. It's not a big number, but it's not bad either, since I didn't spend much time in the game. But if the token price is less than $1, it will be very bad.