Ps6 is probably further out than expected, perhaps.

Either way, with speculation of Sony having a handheld variant of the PS6, that alone may be a selling point for continued sales.

Helldivers 2 just got announced for Xbox. Coming August 26.

At this rate I wouldn't put it past Sony to release some of their major games on Switch 2 and further devalue the Playstation brand.

Sony going the way of Microsoft right now would be such a major misfire, as they can essentially expand their console userbase by eating into Xbox, but I do wonder if there is more behind the scenes with this one. 

Consoles are completely useless at this point , Thats why I've spent 90% of my time on PC this generation. these companies have thrown away the very reason why their console was successful and people bought into it in the first place all for the never ending chase for more $$$$.

Perhaps Microsoft wanted something in exchange for putting/keeping their games on Playstation, and Sony had to agree or risk losing popular games in the future. Time will tell.

Sony is publishing it so I doubt it.

I think you guys are overestimating the damage that will be done to Sony, they've basically already sucked dry Xbox's userbase, whatever remains of Xbox's userbase is largely a hardcore audience who are entrenched in Xbox's ecosystem and they're likely going to stick with Xbox due to Game Pass or switch to the future Xbox/PC hybrid.

And that future Xbox/PC hybrid is going to play all PlayStation games anyway because it's going to be a Windows based device so what difference does it make whether Sony ports to Xbox now, or has all their games available on a Xbox branded device in 2 years from now? Plus GaaS make the most sense to be on all devices, they need as much help as they can get.

Sony will be fine, why would people leave the PlayStation ecosystem because they ported games to Xbox? All of Xbox games are coming to PlayStation anyway so all they'd be doing is abandoning their libraries, friends, trophies, etc and plopping down $400+ for another console. The only danger I see is them losing players to PC but they've already been porting everything to PC and that hasn't really hurt them, they're still selling tens of millions easily, because there's tens of millions who simply have no interest in the complexities of PC.

Sony owns the "casual" market now who just want a quick plug and play experience, folk who don't want to work around the complexities of PC Gaming, the millions who are entrenched in PlayStation's ecosystem via their built up digital libraries, they may lose some hardcore folk to PC but I don't think it will be a big number as long as PC Gaming remains expensive and more complicated.

If Sony indeed goes fully multiplatform like Microsoft then that'll be the end of PlayStation consoles blowing by 100M+ hardware sales easily.

They will be more in line with PSP/PS3 level sales as a baseline with perhaps PS1 sales as the ceiling. Unless the infamous Xbox leaker is right once again, and this is the end of Xbox in the console space, you might as well make some money from them lol. I can also see a scenario where Arrowhead wants a Bungie deal in order to be acquired and this is Sony accommodating them.

My wildest theory about this is Sony is gearing up to acquire Warner Brothers streaming and gaming properties with their financial division spin off set to happen by the end of the year.

Basically the next Xbox device will be a niche device, it will be a Windows device, its competition will be the dozens of other PC devices like Alienware, Lol. There's nothing Sony can do to stop it playing PlayStation games and why would they, it's just going to be a Windows device. Switch 2 still won't get as much 3rd party support as PlayStation and is notably weaker, but it also sits more as a complimentary device than a direct competitor (Imo) PC is still too expensive and complex for millions of people.

Sony has entrenched millions of people into its ecosystem. Sony will own the market for high end consoles now with Xbox out of the way. Tens of millions with no interest in PC will still continue to play on PlayStation for convenience and affordability. Sony will still sell 80m+ Tens of millions of people aren't suddenly going to learn how to game on PC because they ported stuff there.

And lets face it, tens of millions of people have a PlayStation just to play Fortnite, Call of Duty, etc. These dudes aren't going to bother moving to PC, they're your average gamer who knows fuck all about building a PC and just want to quickly plop onto their consoles for a few hours of Fortnite, Lol. And they have zero reason to move to Xbox at this stage. 

Your only risk is losing "enthusiasts" users to PC but how many do we really think that is? Maybe a lot of us here? But I don't think we're the majority, a few of us know how to build a PC and know how to troubleshoot and work with settings and will happily download Steam, EGS, Windows Store, etc. But can you say the Average Joe is going to want to bother with all that?

I can't really see Microsoft withholding something like Call of Duty at this point though. They have a ten year deal in place, and pulling COD from PS5/PS6 afterwards will severely damage its popularity, and that's something you can't recover from. 

If it happens that Sony acquires back the rights to Spyro and Crash Bandicoot in the near future, then this deal makes a lot more sense, and would honestly be worth the trade off. 

The fact that Helldivers 2 releasing on Xbox the exact same day Gears of War: Reloaded is coming to PlayStation tells me this could potentially be the case. What's next? Halo for Spider-Man? lol