I'm not sure what research specifically you're talking about here as applying to OneD&D.
So I guess your completly ignorant of the microtransactional design process, skinner boxes, or the loot box model sweeping through videogames, and your last experience is purely with MMOs like World of Warcraft.
The topic is about D&D, though. D&D also has rewards and loot, but even with a virtual tabletop, it isn't a video game. To clarify, I never played World of Warcraft or any other MMORPGs. I don't play any video games, really, except a few phone games (which might also qualify as addictive and which have microtransactions). I play a lot of RPGs and board games including virtual tabletops for both, though - and that is the topic of discussion here. I've also studied some addiction studies and some theory on gamification.
OK to summarize it briefly, with an inexact example:
Yes things like WOW are skinner boxes. You devote time to have the mental satisfaction of seeing your numbers go up. And there are a few rare addicts for whom that consumes all their time. Thats not what I am talking about.
Imagine if in World of Warcraft, you made it that ressurection after dying took 10 times as long (like 10 minutes), or instantly if you paid a dollar. But not even a dollar directly. 125 Warcraft coins. And you can only buy Warcraft coins in bundles of 670 for 8 dollars, with a 10% discount if you grabbed a bundle of 6,030 coins.
And then you strung that allong through all the core gameplay. Yes you can level up for killing monsters, but there is a cap on your progress (first every 10 levels, then every 5 levels, then 3, then 1 level) unless you get a mega crystal which is intentionally designed to only drop once every 7 days (and only at 12 AM on a tuesday and if you miss that period its another 7 days wait)....Or of course instantly with 67 megaboons (only 5 cents per 10 boons).
And then lootboxes might be instead of paying directly for Warcraft coins or Megaboons, or Thriftgifts (which is a thing that actually allows you to repair your epic gear, which breaks down otherwise), you paid for a random chance to get one of them. A gamble effectively, except you don't even get money as a payout.
All of these tricks are designed to make you loose track of how much money you spend, or tap into the gambling addict, or people with weak self control, or people that want to play with friends, or just prey on human weakness. This IS recorded to work extremly effectivly and make so much money that the core experience is free.....Because the core experience is basically unplayable without either 25 times the normal free time required, or a continous stream of about 5-10 dollars an hour (after say the first 3 being free-ish).
How is this relevant to D&D?
Because WOTC hired basically a head honcho of such a buisness model to work on their VTT framework.
I believe that these are effective marketing strategies, but they're not new. Much of this was true of arcades back in the 1980s. You'd buy tokens rather than coins, there were randomized rewards, and a countdown to keep your life by paying more money at the end of a game. It could easily cost several dollars an hour to play your favorite arcade games.
I'll believe that modern video games implement these strategies more effectively than 1980s arcades, but I don't think the companies are doing anything different in principle. Further, small operators use the same strategies as big ones. Broadly, some of the most abusive scams that I've encountered have been from small companies or individuals rather than major corporations. Marketing entertainment and leisure is always full of tricks and schemes - whether that's breakfast cereal with randomized toy surprises, sodas, fast food, card games, or anything else.
I will likely have criticism of the OneD&D product once it comes out. But I also think it will be not terribly different from plenty of other products. Yes, they'll probably learn from some of the video game strategies - just as 4th ed D&D learned from collectible card games. It's part of a general spectrum of marketing - and small press use marketing strategies to drive purchases just as much, if not necessarily as effectively.