Don't have time for a drawn-out reply, so I'll just say this.
I care about gaming as an artform. That means I understand the role exclusivity has traditionally (and to this day) played in helping move gaming forward as an artform. When teams focus on a single spec, a single platform to pour their talent, resources, and optimization into, that generally leads to better fleshed-out games, more ambitious games, more polished games and more timeless releases.
Exclusives also can help give direction in how future gaming hardware is developed, to further push the artform forward. It's a circular feedback loop. Even if a game is a timed exclusive, if it's developed initially wholly focused on a single specific platform as if that is intended as the only platform for its release, you will generally get a better game. Just ask the history of gaming across Nintendo, SEGA, SNK, SIE, PC, even Microsoft.
I also understand that exclusives have helped foster competition between software teams, pushing them to one-up each other resulting in more and better games for gamers, and more choice for gamers overall. I understand these things, which is why I stress the importance of software exclusivity. It's not about keeping other people out; it's about encouraging creation of the best to draw more people in, and draw in more respect as an artform.
That's all I have to say on this, at least for now.
It's not that I even disagree with you or anything like that. It's that it's 2024, not 1995 or even 2015, gaming changes, companies change, everything changes. Nothing in life stays the same. Sony is simply changing as they're trying to grow their eco-system and platform by growing their IP's and im sorry, I just don't believe that they will get that growth ONLY on console. All they're really doing is retaining what they've had.
Gaming is an artform perhaps for us but for companies, it's a business and Sony is going to run their company as a business. The way you draw more people into your platform and eco-system isn't by just staying within the console anymore. It just isn't regardless of who likes it or not. Sony makes a lot of revenue but their profit margin leaves a lot to be desired and as a company, they simply want to increase those margins and they're not going to do that by staying with ONLY the console. That means growing by expanding which leads to going to PC which has a massive user install base.
You mention that it's about encouraging creation of the best to draw more people in and draw more respect as an artform. I already talked about the artform aspect above company wise and the suits, shareholders, investors, etc. simply don't see gaming that way. They see it as a business and decisions that are best for their business need to be made regardless of those who like or dislike those decisions.
As for creating the best to draw more people in, you could argue that they've been doing that for the better part of 30 years and yet, have they truly grown? The answer is no because consoles are limited in how many will sell regardless of what Sony does in relation to the console. Granted, Sony is making more revenue but they're also charging more for the console and their games and their services so even if you simply retain what you've had, you're going to get more revenue but getting more revenue off basically the same consumer base as the generation before and the generation before that isn't growth at all. It's literally stagnation.
PC is a massive user install base that Sony truly hasn't even started to tap into yet. Not sure if you would agree with me on this or not but I believe Marvel's Spider Man is the biggest IP that Sony has access to gaming wise in their entire portfolio. Granted, they don't own the IP but since they do own the movie rights, that gives them leverage to use the IP for gaming and exclusively at that. I'm pretty certain the three Spider Man games console wise have sold 50m+ units combined if not more.
Imagine how much bigger Spider Man would be right now if those three games released on PC day one? You would get 100m+ units combined. Of this, I have zero doubt. You may wonder how that benefits you as a PlayStation console gamer. Well, if they had that, their leverage increases significantly to where maybe they get even more licenses or deals because companies with license would want to take advantage of that. In turn, this will give you even more of what you want game wise on your PlayStation. Sure, PC will get it day one as well but does that really matter if you're getting more than what you would have gotten if Sony wasn't releasing on PC day one?
Obviously, that was a hypothetical situation that can't happen since it's all in the past but the point is, what if Spider Man 3 launches on PC day one and what I just said happens due to this? Are you and others not willing to accept a trade off that easily benefits everyone including PlayStation console owners because you would get more out of this as opposed to getting less?
I simply believe that Sony is changing and are doing so because they see the writing on the wall especially when they know consoles will not be around forever regardless of what anyone wants to believe and they simply can't sit around waiting with their thumbs up their ass. People can shit on Microsoft all they want but think about it, in 2013, they wanted to be all digital and always online.
Well, 95% of those who play games are literally always online. I'm one of the very rare exceptions that isn't connected online when playing games but the vast majority are and the companies have the data to prove it. So 11 years later, Microsoft saw the future and ended up being correct.
Then with regards to digital, Sony announced a month ago that as of June 30th, 2024, their software sales are 80% digital. This is not just for their games but all base games sold on their platform. This was an increase of 21% compared to June 30th, 2019. By this pacing, Sony will be at 96% all digital by Fall 2028 when PlayStation 6 launches.
Point im trying to make is that Sony is looking ahead into the future which is what company especially a tech company like Sony should be doing because if you miss that window for whatever the future will be, you're going to be left behind and I would like to think that no matter what, no PlayStation fan wants that.
In closing, I simply believe that PlayStation fans (like Xbox fans a while ago) should simply come to the realization that Sony is changing and speeding up their PC process and accept it just like I personally accepted Microsoft's direction. And it's not because you love it, like it or even agree with it, it's that it simply doesn't matter how anyone feels about it because they're going to do what they want to do as companies and you can either accept it and enjoy what you're getting for yourself personally, move on to another option that may not be better for you compared to what you have now or quit gaming.