Sony has been growing very organically thus far, and they will continue to do so. Most of their acquisitions in the past have been studios that have practically been first party already. Now, they are bolstering their weak spots by acquiring know-how and of course new revenue sources as well. Nintendo has the portable market in their pocket with little resistance, so they will thrive on that.

And actually the publisher making most of their money on a console or another or even PC is pointless for they when they are purchased, the people selling will get their money regardless. The ones who care if it will makes sense for them to purchase ar the buyers =p

The acquisition boom has been fueled by the very low cost of cash. On the one hand, interest rates were super low for borrowing. On the other hand, cash sitting in the bank was making very little money. Basically, cash in the bank was losing value to inflation. So, it makes sense for companies with a lot of cash, like Microsoft, to put that cash to work. So, that made big acquisitions. With the increasing cost of borrowing, and the requisite increase in the ability of cash in the bank to earn a return, acquisitions will naturally slow down.

Also, Microsoft has a very clear plan for changing the distribution model. It makes sense for them to have a lot more content that is completely within their control. It is not so clear that having all that first party content would make the same level of sense or Sony and Nintendo.  Basically, we're seeing a divergence in the business models, consequently, there's a divergence in the business practices. 

The best selling games tend to be developed in house.  A similar route to this is for a console maker to purchase (fully or a portion of) a company that they already have a close relationship with.  That is basically what Sony did with Naughty Dog and what Nintendo did with Next Level Games.  Either way the console maker can support the developers and let them grow in size and skill gradually.  That is how to get the best selling first party games.

However, if a company is rich and impatient, like Microsoft, then they can just acquire large studios outright.  Has Microsoft ever made a development team better?  I don't think they have a good track record with this.  They have some very valuable IP now, but I kind of expect these franchises to get slowly ran into the ground.  I don't expect them to get better.  However, they will get some really great sales for several years until their time has come.  That is something.

I don't see Microsoft's acquisition strategy to be too amazing in the long run.  However, I do think Gamepass is a really solid strategy.  If they can get a wide adoption of Gamepass, then it may not matter a whole lot if their games kind of suck in 2030.  If they can get enough people used to a subscription model, then it may be hard for them to go back to purchasing games.  These acquisitions are really just a means to get people to try Gamepass.

Yep a very on point explanation.

I say Capcom, Square Enix, Konami, Koei Tecmo, From Software and NIS should all be bought by Sega and Sega emerges as the new king of the east, leaving Nintendo and Sony far behind. Meanwhile EA, Ubi, Warner, Netherrealm, Take 2 and THQ should all form a conglomerate and rise as the new champion of the west, leaving Microsoft and once again Sony far behind. The battle will be glorious!

The Switch is more like a 720P console than a 1080P one.

But they had to make *some* concessions in 2017 to make a portable gaming device and hit a price point.

Sure, they could have boosted the DRAM to 8GB, they could have went with Tegra X2 for 50% more performance.. But at what cost?

Selling at a loss like other manufacturer and recouping money with SW, which they sell more than the other 2 platform holder for higher price averaged on the life of each SW and even the system.

Nintendo seems content expanding on its own terms
I recall them buying more land in Japan to build a new 12 story building as well as them renting office space close by to their current headquarters.

I like this approach more then buying established studio's because if they just buy studio's, they are just moving people around, while making new studio's themselves is creating more jobs for new people, new talent ect

Considering how well Switch has sold as-is, it is doubtful that making it more powerful would have done much to improve sales.  It would have just cost Nintendo money for the subsidy.  It is already among the best selling consoles ever.