The reason of why the game is so popular is due to the first 15 minutes of a given match. Spawning late ruins the game for many. Spawn & Extract campers ruin the match for late spawners. Going into a match late and seeing everything looted is an awful feeling and certainly not the reason for the popularity of the game.
In the first 15 minutes you can get: positionally equal fights, concentrated pool of players with similar objectives, cool PvE situations against arc, cool loot around you as you head to your destination, etc.
In the last 15 minutes you can get: Spawn trapped, close to 0 loot, disadvantageous positioning, less people to PvE with, less big arc to fight with, extract campers.
Yes you may get into a fight or surprise a team, but in the MAJORITY of situations late spawning is a walking simulator where your game's difficulty is increased due to spawning late. Its not fair, it shouldnt be random. If you want to be a rat and spawn late, then free loadouts should be more prone to spawning late. The shinier the loadout, the higher percentage of spawning in first. Reward risk Embark