A Key Ingredient of Sony's Successes

[The_Liquid_Laser]

The OP is right about Sony.  One big key to Sony's success has always, in fact, been to kiss the ass of third party companies.  The other key is to sell hardware at a loss at launch.  Microsoft came later and also copied Sony's strategy which means the big third party companies really feel entitled at this point, since 2/3 of console makers are making them feel special.  This also means Sony's strategy is not as effective now, because Microsoft is always going to get a portion of the gamers that want to play these third party games.  However, Sega's and Nintendo's strategy has always been quite different from Sony's. 

In fact, Nintendo's strategy has always been to crush the competition with high quality software, mostly first party software.  Then the third party companies have no where else viable to bring their software.  "What?  You want to put your software on that pathetic console?  Good luck with that."  It is obvious that this strategy worked fairly well during the 8- and 16-bit eras, but they've always done this in the handheld market too.  The 3DS thoroughly crushed the Vita.  The main difference between the PSP and Vita was that Nintendo negotiated hard to get Monster Hunter.  Without this series, Sony had to leave the handheld market.  Now any third party devv that wants to put their game on a handheld has to come to the Switch.

It might seem like Sony's strategy is better or maybe Nintendo and Sony have equally viable strategies.  However, Nintendo has the better strategy in the long run.  Nintendo can survive and be profitable even when it is at the bottom.  Sony can't.  Nintendo does not sell hardware at a loss and they made a small profit during the Gamecube and Wii U years.  On the other hand the Vita was too crushing of a blow for Sony.  They had to leave the handheld market.  Even the PS3 years were pretty bad for them, and they actually weren't too far behind the Wii in total market share.  If Sony ever had a Vita-like turnout in the home market, then they would have to leave gaming entirely.  Nintendo has already had a couple of Vita-like results in the home space and they are still around.

So, in the end, Sony caters to developers because they have to.  If they don't then Nintendo will force them out of the marketplace.  Could you imagine a generation where Nintendo got CoD and GTA as exclusives on top of all of their first party games?  They would be unbeatable.  Sony will never let that happen, because they need these franchises just to survive.  But they are also vulnerable, because Microsoft can get these franchises too.  Generation 7 shows that Sony actually has to be very careful in how they approach things now.  Because they have the first party lion, Nintendo, on one side, and they have the third party thief, Microsoft, on the other.  They have to make sure they distinguish themselves from both companies.  They were actually lucky in Generation 8, because both the Wii U and XB1 flubbed their launch.  We'll have to wait and see if they are careful enough with the PS5.  If not, then they might end up with another PS3 situation or worse.