How Sony might double down on their anti-consumer practices as PlayStation becomes the only hardware in console space

As Xbox pivots to a multiplatform strategy, and Nintendo carves a unique niche, PlayStation may be expectedly cement its position as the primary hardware in the console market sooner.

The possibility of such an unprecedented market position being enjoyed by Sony has raised some serious concerns—without any fierce competition, could Sony intensify its anti-consumer practices that have priority over profits and not player choices? Historical evidence suggests a troubling path forward.

Sony might double down on anti-consumer move: What does its playbook suggest?

With the company's past as a prologue, there’s a pattern of Sony leveraging market control to restrict user freedom while maximizing revenue.

Sony is popularly known for blocking cross-platform for many years. It was only after being under pressure, as Microsoft supported and promoted the feature, that the company gave in.As the data reveals, Sony got exposed demanding royalties from the publishers just to enable the online cross-play. It was a clear tactic for protecting the walled garden revenue.

Further, Sony has even aggressively locked users into the ecosystem.

The company enforced a near-total monopoly on PlayStation Store’s digital game sales, prohibiting any third-party retailers from selling the digital codes, unlike its competitors.Popularly known as Sony Tax, the move allows the company to artificially inflate prices. This was clearly evidenced during the UK £5 billion lawsuit. Therein, it was alleged that digital games cost 47% more than the PlayStation’s physical copies.Additionally, Sony was even fined €13.5 million previously by the French regulators. It was due to their deliberate attempt to sabotage the third-party PS4 controllers via software updates, while continuing to maintain an opaque licensing program, which stifled the entire competition. When any licensing dispute arises, like 2023’s removal of the purchased Discovery content, users even lose access entirely.

It even highlighted Sony's ownership fragility within the digital domain, serving as one of the most egregious examples of how Sony handheld digital purchases. The entire case was highlighted as Warner Bros. Discovery content got pulled in 2023, from user libraries, without any offered refunds.

With all being said and considered, the past trends clearly show that Sony is not the one to back down. It will continue to push its anti-consumer policies as and when it gets a chance.

Especially with major competition from the console market, it’s highly likely to see that such practices are repeated or, probably, soon, there will be some new way to own a monopoly.

Why does PlayStation stand alone in shifting the Console landscape?

The console landscape has dramatically shifted, and the traditional console war is now dynamically crumbling. Microsoft has already made a fundamental shift in strategy, moving some major exclusives, including “Indiana Jones and the Great Circle” and “Sea of Thieves,” to PlayStation.

The company is now heavily promoting Game Pass accessibility across varied devices—mobile and Fire TV. They are signaling to a future that is beyond pure hardware sales.

Xbox now competes within an ecosystem, not just the consoles.Meanwhile, Nintendo is thriving on a unique hybrid model and the family-friendly IP. It’s operating in a distinct market segment instead of directly competing for hardcore gamers. Its lower price point is a huge appeal to a broad and casual audience.

While some of the franchises here, like Zelda, Mario and Animal Crossing, cater to different demographics than the cinematic and mature exclusives of PlayStation.The focus of Nintendo on affordability and portability, together with its reluctance to engage in a hardware arms race and subscription wars, means it can coexist with PlayStation instead of directly opposing it. Not to mention, as Sony continues to chase high-fidelity graphics and the live-service dominance, Nintendo thrives on nostalgia and accessibility.

It ensures Nintendo remains insulated from any cutthroat competition between PlayStation and Xbox.With the changing dynamics, PlayStation now seems to be the only major player that’s solely focused on publishing premium-priced and dedicated console hardware. With Xbox “embracing the multiplatform strategy” and Nintendo “doing its own thing”, Sony now faces diminished pressure from competition, for giving priority to consumer-friendly policies.The company’s dominance within traditional console hardware is now looking to be increasingly uncontested. Sooner, it might allow Sony to enforce some policies, like raising PS Plus subscription price without any addition of meaningful value. It could be riskier in the contested market.

Sony’s digital dominance and ownership erosion

Sony's control over PlayStation Store is the cornerstone of a potential exploitation in the future. Inability to purchase digital games from third-party retailers, including CD Keys like PC platforms or Xbox, creates a captive audience.

Such a monopoly would allow Sony to set high prices and resist discounting pressures.The threat extends much beyond pricing. The terms of service of the company explicitly state that users only license the digital content. They do not own it. It was starkly demonstrated as Warner Bros. Discovery content got removed from the user libraries due to expired licensing. With physical media fading, Sony now wields absolute power to revoke access to all purchased media or games, making the libraries of players inherently insecure.

PlayStation Loyalty faces rising cost, subscription squeeze and proprietary lock-in

Pricing strategies employed by Sony have grown quite aggressive. The new first-party PlayStation games are now retailing at $70, while the digital versions often cost significantly more than the physical copies. It goes up to 47% more in some of the regions, as per a Dutch lawsuit that sought €1 billion in damages from Sony.The company has even restricted digital game sales to its storefront. It eliminates price competition.

On Xbox, players could purchase digital codes from retailers like CDKeys or Amazon, but PlayStation instead locked buyers into Sony's inflated pricing.Note: The price hikes with the Premium tier taking a jump to $160 annually come with a little justification, especially as Sony has removed perks like PlayStation Plus Collection.Considering all of this, the price of PlayStation Plus now seems to be more strategic and merely inflationary.

While it offers few tangible benefits, as compared to all past offerings, Sony now leverages the necessity of service for online play to bring in more revenue. New tiers—Essential, Extra and Premium lack compelling value, quite especially the underwhelming classic game library of Premium. It suggests that Sony's focus is on profit maximization rather than service enhancement.

Even hardware lock-ins now look like another tactic.

The PlayStation Portal streaming device quite notably lacks standard Bluetooth audio support. It forces users to expensive and proprietary PlayStation Link headsets. It mirrors the costly proprietary memory cards of Vita—artificial banners that have been designed to generate accessory revenue in Sony's closed ecosystem.

Sony’s gamble on content control and live services comes with high manipulation tactics

Sony's pursuit of live-service games has raised some red flags. While it promised many such titles, only a few materialized, and it was often laden with increased microtransactions.

The launch controversy of Gran Turismo 7, where the in-game economy was altered drastically post-release to push MTX purchases after the published reviews, shows Sony's willingness to manipulate player experience just for profit.

Together with a lack of transparency over major first-party single-player releases, much beyond Wolverine and Spider-Man 2, the live-services push shows the future to all, where the players' engagement would get highly monetized, aggressively.

All of it would be possible with Sony’s control over the environment and, quite potentially, at the expense of complete game experiences.

Roadmap ahead: Sony’s monopoly and power bring consumer risk

With the diminished competition within the traditional console hardware space, Sony now faces very little incentive to reverse its course. The current trajectory and past both point to Sony doubling down on anti-consumer practices, which can maximize its revenue in walled garden—high subscription cost, strict digital control, aggressive monetization within live-service titles and proprietary hardware dependencies.

While Sony offers acclaimed exclusives and powerful hardware, the path of PlayStation as a potential sole major hardware player risks prioritizing shareholder value over consumer ownership and choices. There will be a lot of vigilance required in the future from consumers and regulators. It is only then that Sony's dominance could be prevented from stifling the broader gaming ecosystem.