Agree. Also MAU also goes more in line with Sony's multiplatform incursion, since they have gamers engaged in their games on other devices besides their own hardware.
It could also be them bracing for PS6 gen; if they plan on continuing their multiplatform strategy as-is or become more aggressive with the frequency and timing of non-GAAS ports of AAA titles to PC (Spiderman 2 was the quickest so far, just 15 months), then they
have to know this will have a negative effect on early adoption of new generation hardware. They have to finally be acknowledging that overlap between console & PC gamers is much higher than it was 10 years ago, and platforms like PC are proving more effective as indirect competitors than Xbox has proven as a direct competitor for the past 10 years.
Yet, because SIE want big growth in markets like China, where PC dominates, they probably want to continue with their PC porting strategy, but for whatever reason never just...made that a regional effort vs. pushing for global PC support? I really don't understand why they did it this way (and inviting all the problems it has) vs. just focusing on Chinese region-locked Steam ports if that was the case.
And like others have already said, shifting to a heightened focus on MAU means they're looking into more multiplatform and GAAS content as a whole. So expect more legacy releases on other platforms (maybe even Xbox) through Bandai-Namco, and we'll probably hear about 3 or 4 new GAAS announcements before getting another single-player AAA reveal or even an update on Cory Balrog's game, or Wolverine.
This is just where I'm at with SIE today; I haven't completely shut out the chance of them making what I'd call (and have outlined in the past) much better decisions long-term, but my belief of that happening is marginal at best. Maybe they'll surprise me in a good way, but I'm not counting on it.
They have about the same level of competition as the PlayStation 2 era. Which is when they decided the PlayStation 3 was a good idea.
But the PS3
WAS a good idea, a great idea even. Technologically speaking it was well ahead of 360 and Wii, and Sony had arguably their most innovative & biggest revolution in 1P output that generation. That benefited the platform (eventually) and the industry.
PS3's problem was pricing and early messaging around that pricing, plus also not having the most robust SDK early on. Which made programming for it a challenge, versus 360 where development was relatively simple. Basically PS3 went through a similar arc the Saturn did; 1P were among the first to start truly leveraging the hardware effectively. Unlike Saturn, PS3 was commercially relevant enough for 3P to stick around, so eventually the advances 1P made would benefit 3P devs in the latter years of that gen. Which is why even some 3P titles (like GTA5) looked and ran better on PS3, let alone 1P putting out games well beyond any 360 title visually in the latter PS3 years.
Compared to today's environment, I
wish we had another PS3 in terms of tech innovation & general quality of AAA releases along with a still-healthy AA market on the whole, plus free online and genuinely cool features (PS Home, MAG, etc.).
Thankfully that's not the case for Playstation, as they don't have zero competition.
Well they don't have any real direct competition anymore, but they do have Nintendo & PC (Steam, specifically) as indirect competition. I'm a bit mum on Switch 2's specs if the OS allocation for CPU cores & RAM are true because that obviously cuts into potential game performance, but Nintendo is doing all the right moves when it comes to prioritizing 1P exclusives, netting some 3P exclusives and tightening relations with big (mainly Japanese from looks of it) 3P as well.
And Valve are making good steps forward with getting OEMs on Steam Deck, growing support for Steam OS, and seems they're cooking up more games under development these days too between Deadlocked and Half-Life 3. Now I just want to seem them successfully bring back Steam Machines (or something similar to that); hopefully Steam OS gets a full distro by later in the year because I am dreading having to upgrade my laptop to Windows 11 if I can in
any away avoid that nightmare.
Maximum Revenue Per User - I absolutely do feel like a wallet waiting to be exploited every time I boot up my PS5. They really want to squeeze the last tiny cent from us.
It's night and day compared to using Steam. The latter feels like made for my needs, the former feels like made for Sony shareholder needs.
That's what happens when one's a privately-owned company (Valve) and the other is public (Sony). The former doesn't have to appease greedy shareholders and CEOs looking to fatten their own pockets, or appease various interests groups. They just need to (theoretically) make enough to provide livable salaries for their employees, and they typically don't need to employ a shit-ton of people for potentially various redundancy roles.
But the thing is Sony & SIE/PlayStation have always been public, yet it wasn't like this during PS1 - PS4 gens. Some will argue it was with PS3, but at least that didn't get price increases over time, and had tech which genuinely justified the price, even compared to higher-end PCs of the era (try finding a 2007 high-end PC with a Blu-Ray ROM drive fitted in that wasn't going for $3K at
least). I genuinely think those eras of PlayStation being mainly helmed by Japanese types who weren't strictly from a finance background, made a big difference.
Plus, with PS1 they were out to prove themselves in the market, so they were very hungry to compete. With PS2 they wanted to prove PS1 wasn't a fluke. With PS3 they aimed very high for performance but got aloof along the way, humbled by 360, and had to build their way back up. With PS4 they had to finish the recovery PS3 started near the end of its lifecycle, and prove
that wasn't just a fluke. I don't think PS5 had any of that type of motivation outside of maybe the very beginning, and when they were under threat of losing Zenimax & ABK long-term, they focused doubling-down on GAAS investments. But by that point, SIE was mainly under Western management, which became focused on chasing profit at all costs.
Sigh...