Too bad he only mentions Minecraft in passing, because in some ways I think it tries to learn from the same problems: It tries to stay fresh to be able to attract new buyers, and it's so open-ended that it has a lot of replay value. So it still sells quite handily (the speed seems to have slowed down somewhat, but a few days ago, it was announced that they had sold 8 million copies for PC - and that doesn't count the millions of XBox 360 copies at all).
Yet it is quite different: It costs money once, and you get updates for free - and there's no in-game market of any sort, whereas the OP wants no money upfront and tries to get people to buy in-game stuff.
But he DOES mention Minecraft, by saying to see what it's like in a decade. Now, if there were 10 examples like Minecraft, then I don't think he could dismiss it so freely. But with a single exception... it is reasonable to consider it an outlier.
Yet it is quite different: It costs money once, and you get updates for free - and there's no in-game market of any sort, whereas the OP wants no money upfront and tries to get people to buy in-game stuff.