You’re ignoring how much of a role the TF2 hats played in pushing microtransaction skins.

Steam came out in 2003. TF2 hats came out in 2009. It’s lived in the world of micro transactions way longer than it lived in the before times.

2013 rather than 2009, I think? The pyro dropped in 2010, and I'm pretty certain hats came later.