Psygnosis was the largest publisher in Europe and a pilar for PS1 early days, and helped to cement their position in the continent. While Sony didn't buy the big publishers, they were sure to make their content as exclusive as possible until the OG Xbox was starting to crack in the sideways and fully with the Xbox 360 even before its release. Fast forward they made games like SF5 and FF7R and XVI as exclusives early on to capitalize their genres as almost exclusive to the platforms, Square for example has made a massive unseen backtrack on supporting a decent selling console (Xbox) for no public reason, and FF7R to this day hasn't seen an Xbox port despite the original contract expiring 12 months after its release. Companies won't copy line per line what's the other doing, they will instead create their own routes, Microsoft re-ignited their investment with acquisitions after closing a bunch of studios over its lifetime and expanded on that, its just business as it is for Sony to attempt to foreclosure X genres on their competitors by taking the big hits and taking advantages of the technologies they created.
Psygnosis did not have the impact that modern day publishers have. Not even close. Sony's acquisition of them didn't even impact the industry the way Zenimax did. And that was a smaller Western publisher compared to Ubisoft, T2, EA, and ABK. Sony's singular purchase of a publisher, 30 years ago, was meant to help solidify their entry into the market. Giving them a good foundation against multiple established competitors. None of whom experienced big negative consequences of the acquisition. Especially since Psygnosis continued making games for rival platforms for years. That is perfectly fine. It was about ease of entry. Not paid-for dominance.
Many games that were exclusive to PlayStation early on were that way because they were given a way out from Nintendo's predatory practices and because Sega fucked up the launch of Saturn. Making Sony a default choice, by the fault of their competitors. Sony went on to have great relationships with those companies that extended into the next generation. Many of their high profile exclusives being third-party Japanese games. But that kind of exclusivity did not last. Even during the PS2 era, companies began releasing their games elsewhere. The Metal Gear Solid remake released only on Gamecube. Resident Evil 4 also released on Gamecube well before a PS2 version. GTA and MGS games started releasing on Xbox. They would eventually lose Final Fantasy and Tekken. By the PS3 days, most franchises that had deals with PlayStation like that were largely gone.
You know what Sony didn't do? Buy all those major companies to control them and ensure they can never do anything Sony doesn't let them do. Instead, they focused on building up their first-party through smaller companies that they built relationships with. To no real direct detriment to competitors at the time. Moneyhat exclusivity has been the game for a long time. Every company engages in it. What every company does not engage in is acquiring massive publishers that have a calamitous consequence for competitors.
SF5 wouldn't have existed when it did without Sony having given Capcom the money to do so at a time when they were in a bad financial way. What did Sony not do? Take advantage and buy them out. When Squaresoft wanted to merge with Enix but were having financial difficulties after their Final Fantasy movie failed, Sony bought stock in them to give them a cash injection and enough stability to finish their games, convince Enix they were worth it, and complete the merger. What did Sony not do? Deny helping them and buy them out instead. They even sold off their shares later, making good on their word.
So a couple Final Fantasy games went exclusive. And? The history those two companies have is enough for that to not be a surprise. What about the time Xbox paid to have a Star Wars game exclusive to them? Or when they landed a one-year timed exclusive deal for a Tomb Raider sequel? Or when they made PlayStation Call of Duty players wait for new maps? Or paid to have Dead Rising 3 exclusive? Helped fund Ryse? What about the Ori games? Sorry, but only a desperate fanboy would point to moneyhat exclusives from a rival platform while conveniently ignoring the number of times all platform holders have done that. That is, and always will be, a whole other beast from outright buying the companies making those games and forever being the arbiter of their fate and availability.
Try as you might, there is no realistic way to compare anything Sony has done to what Microsoft is doing today. The sad part is, what Microsoft is doing may force their hand and behave like them, just to ensure they don't buy the industry from underneath them. The Xbox 360 itself, nevermind what Switch has accomplished, absolutely proved that you can compete without having to buy large chunks of the industry. Sadly, if Microsoft is allowed their way, that WILL be the only way you can compete. Assuming they leave anything for anyone else if they're unchecked. The reality is, an e-mail talking about eliminating Sony right before Microsoft tried to buy two major publishers, one of which is undergoing regulatory scrutiny the likes of which the industry has never seen. Both at values and market shares companies like Psygnosis, in the past, would have had a stroke trying to process.
Your argument is the same as so many other #SonyToo attempts. No real substance. Just finger pointing with no context, no parsing of scale, and no nuance.
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