I don't think it's out of line to say Sony understands the platform business better than anyone. And I'm not just talking about console makers, I'm talking about all platforms: iOS, Android, Steam, Facebook, Twitter, etc etc etc.
Sony's first goal every generation since the PSOne has been winning game developers to their side. Game devs like large user bases, but that's only one aspect of why a developer picks a console. Sony's primary focus every generation is to get everything else right: development tools, hardware storage and performance, consistent controller design, software medium, and so on. They've had some misfires here and there (the Cell processor comes to mind), but they typically outperform their competition in all of these categories.
I think it's because Sony knows their customer isn't the gamer, it's the game developer. The game developer's customer is the gamer. Again, user base numbers attract developers, but Sony recognizes that user bases are driven by developer support. It's definitely reciprocal, but Sony's dominance comes from understanding that catering to the developer is paramount. That's why they've consistently created an environment that breeds killer apps. I can't think of another platform maker in the last 20+ years who's been better.
So after 20 years of building up that kind of leverage with developers, it doesn't make much sense to just give part of it away until game developers make it clear they need it.
I don't think this is the whole story - or at least not the right strategy for Sony anymore. Sony's PS3 was more or less a market disaster and they were able to claw their way back to #1 by selling the PS4 for $100 less than the Xbox One and taking advantage of Microsoft's terrible, self-centered move of pushing for always-on DRM. Now Sony is making the same kinds of self-centered moves with the PS4 because they are the current leader and feel like they can get away with it.
The tech in these platforms is more similar than it's ever been. The consoles are trending towards basically being stripped down multi-core PCs optimized for video and memory bandwidth - especially now with half-step upgrades like the PS4 Pro and XBOne X. For many game developers building on top of engines like Unity or Unreal, they are no longer specifically designing for XBox or PS4 - they are targeting a common engine platform and then just tweaking the game content as needed to make sure it performs well enough on each platform.
Combine this with the fact that video games cost more than ever to develop and it makes less sense than ever for a 3rd party publisher to target any single platform. In order to recoup their dev budgets and make big profits, they want as huge an install base as possible. Epic would want Fortnite to run on toasters if they though people would play it there. Platform exclusives are essentially a thing of the past except in cases where the platform holder funds the development or owns the IP.
Sony may be the current leader in building first-party, system-exclusive action games to sell their platform, but the number of people who play those games is dwarfed by the mass appeal of something like Fortnite. By gaining the reputation as "the worst place to play Fortnite" (literally the world's most popular game), they are turning off a whole new generation of customers who may swap back to Microsoft when the next console generation hits.
In my opinion, this is nothing but Sony taking it advantage of it's #1 console position to try to force people to give them more money in the short term. I'm sure Microsoft would be doing the same thing if their current market positions were reversed. But I don't think it's good for their long-term business.
On top of what you just said, a new console generation will be started (probably) in 2020. That means that both Sony and Microsoft's console hardware sales will reset to zero. If you're looking to buy the next console, will you picking up the platform that locks you into playing only with people on one platform or the platform that allows you to play with everyone? Many people will be buy the next Playstation for the exclusives yes, but Sony's walled garden will give some new buyers a pause.
Sony isn't thinking long term. Either that, or they mistakingly believe that they're crushing the competition due to their business strategy, instead of Microsoft and Nintendo both shooting themselves in the foot. Microsoft will not be making their 2013 mistakes again during the next hardware launch.
Huh? Your entire comment is confusing to be honest and misleading.
The platforms you rattled off are far, far larger than Sony. So I don't think we can follow your point on "Sony understands the platform business better than anyone" at all.
The PS'es for a lot of their history were not dev friendly at all. This point also get's thrown at the window sadly [1] [2] [3].
Which then makes "I think it's because Sony knows their customer isn't the gamer, it's the game developer ... Sony's dominance comes from understanding that catering to the developer is paramount." nonsensical as it has been demonstrated that it's not that either.
"I can't think of another platform maker in the last 20+ years who's been better."
Eh, you did a pretty good job yourself listing off far better and larger platforms at the start of your comment so I think one can easily.
“Sony's primary focus every generation is to get everything else right: development tools, hardware storage and performance, consistent controller design, software medium, and so on.”
Has the PlayStation really done consistently better than the Xbox on all those fronts? Looking at development tools, online gaming, performance and storage, I could see a case for the PS4, but did Sony do a better job with the PS2 or PS3, than Microsoft with the Xbox/Xbox 360?
> Sony understands the platform business better than anyone. And I'm not just talking about console makers, I'm talking about all platforms: iOS, Android, Steam, Facebook, Twitter, etc etc etc.
Out of curiosity, seeing as how some of those platforms are the bread and butter of companies that have market caps that far exceed Sony, what leads you to believe that?
I would chalk the market cap differences up to the differences in the industries. Internet search is more than 5 times the size of console gaming, and vastly more profitable.
I think a true quantitative comparison would have to account for market size, market share, age of the market, and typical industry profit margins.
A qualitative comparison might be more instructive, though. How many truly successful user experiences have been built on top of Facebook? Newsfeed, Messenger, and Ads? Maybe Farmville? On top of Google? Search, Gmail, Analytics and Ads? Less than a handful for both. Playstation, on the other hand, has had thousands of successful user experiences over a twenty year period.
Facebook, Google, and others often seem to have an adversarial relationship with their 3rd party developers. I could only imagine what types of amazing experiences we could be enjoying if they adopted the licensing model that's led Sony to dominate its industry for 20 years.
Game developers wouldn't increasingly be using cross-platform play if they hated it. Sony's decision has nothing to do with developers, it's because they're scared it eases the ability for people to leave their platform by removing a barrier.
Sony's first goal every generation since the PSOne has been winning game developers to their side. Game devs like large user bases, but that's only one aspect of why a developer picks a console. Sony's primary focus every generation is to get everything else right: development tools, hardware storage and performance, consistent controller design, software medium, and so on. They've had some misfires here and there (the Cell processor comes to mind), but they typically outperform their competition in all of these categories.
I think it's because Sony knows their customer isn't the gamer, it's the game developer. The game developer's customer is the gamer. Again, user base numbers attract developers, but Sony recognizes that user bases are driven by developer support. It's definitely reciprocal, but Sony's dominance comes from understanding that catering to the developer is paramount. That's why they've consistently created an environment that breeds killer apps. I can't think of another platform maker in the last 20+ years who's been better.
So after 20 years of building up that kind of leverage with developers, it doesn't make much sense to just give part of it away until game developers make it clear they need it.