I have mixed feelings about it.
On one hand, some studios rely on those numbers to prove a game's continued relevance, but on the other, we have companies jumping at the very chance of it with poor premium models.
On mobile games, there's a trend with paid/free premium currency, and that get some people's blood boiling.
There's a game I play that features this, but the premium packages themselves are terrible (you have to spend quite a bit for little gains and RNG), yet somehow I see whalers alive and well, so all the power to them.
I have this belief that gacha rolls that use paid premium currency will yield better odds, but I don't have that luxury to roll often enough to prove it. What I can say anecdotally, my rolls are better when I have to use my paid premium currency.
Is it a necessary evil? I guess it really depends on what studio and who is their financial backing. When you don't have Tencent or some other big corpo publisher, every penny probably matters.
My experience with microtransaction is knowing my limits and drawing that line. Afterall, we have rent and bills to pay.