It was not like this back in the '90s. Games you purchased were on disk/disks. You installed the game and played the fully completed game that did not require an online connection. You owned that game.
After the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 things changed. So it has not always been like this.

Project Zombiod

Project Zomboid has been in early access for over 10 years. It was released into early access on Nov 8, 2013, and it’s STILL not finished!

FreshWomen