Heh. I'm deep into Mechwarrior online right now.
And admittedly that's a F2P game for a niche genre, so the numbers aren't apples to apples; but in that game you're been charged $3-$6 for each paint COLOUR. Then if you like a particular pattern, you can either pay 80c for a one off use of that camo (i.e. you'll lose it when you change it), or you can pay around $5-$7 for a camo that you can use permanently for all mechs of that type.
... I've spent a bit too much on paint jobs in this game. The only other game I've spent this much on paint on is Warhammer 40k! The upside is, you don't have to actually paint the mechs yourself in this game.
Oh... and Hero mechs (exclusive mechs with a money earning bonus) go from $10 to a new record of about $35... per Mech variant! (they're multiple variants for one type).
Yet.. you keep supporting this practice by paying for it?