Microsoft is going third party because they can't keep up with Sony. With Microsoft gone out of the console Sony (or Nintendo) will just take their customers.

By then it'll just be Sony and Nintendo in the consoles space. The thing is they kind of appeal to different crowds.

Sony specializes in plug and play consoles that have enough power for big budget graphic intensive titles. And they are taking their time bringing games to PC where they don't sell nearly as well. So i don't really see PC taking their customers. They will still be successful for a long time. Although with no true competitor they might end up getting really greedy and screw up again. But who knows.

Nintendo has their handhelds of course that are home to their exclusive IP. not really focused on power but don't really have to. So they will be just fine too.

Sony is already third party. Most of their games are available on windows, with at least one game on Switch (Lego Horizon). It's a matter of time for them to start releasing everything everywhere. Microsoft started slowly too.

Even Nintendo will expand at some point, it's an inevitability. But it will not be in the style of Microsoft as long as Nintendo consoles and Playstation sell a 100 million+ hardware, a billion+ software, and dozens of millions of subscriptions.

The incentive for Sony to take Microsoft's path doesn't exist yet. They'll consider trivializing consoles when their hardware and software sales drop to about one 3rd of their current power, and/or when PC and mobile phones start dominating AA and AAA game sales.

Depends on how you define being a 3rd party publisher. If you mean basically being like MS where all their games will be available in as many places as possible, then I think the answer is no. Or not until after PS6.

PS5s are selling. Dualsense controllers are selling. The PS Portal is selling well (with Sony doing a Cloud handheld before even MS could). There's talk of a PS handheld (similar to the Switch).

Outside of the isolated case of MLB, Sony isn't brining their content to Xbox. Outside of MLB and the Lego Horizon game, it remains to be seen what Sony would bring to the Switch and Switch 2. Opening up to PC may be profitable enough for them, especially if a few more live service games take off.

For Sony, I am pretty sure that getting users into their eco-system is a core aspect to making money, and even with their PC expansion I don't think that is any less true.

I think it will be a losing strategy if Sony follows MS with the 3rd party approach. Sony are in a very different position to Xbox, where Xbox does not have a viable console only business, Sony does. For Xbox grabbing revenue from PC players and competing platforms makes sense, as they were not getting that revenue regardless. For Sony it will be an outright loss, if players shift away from their platform as a whole and instead are only purchasing one or two blockbuster games on other platforms from Sony.

Sony also does not have the games lineup that Xbox has where success is primarily driven by number of active players such as COD/Diablo etc.

Man... it already is, since years ago (and not only because its PC ports XDDD).

MLB Show has been multiplatform since 2020, I think. A Sony franchise, developed by San Diego Studio (Playstation Studios).
BTW, a studio using a VEEEERY similar logo than the (in)famous "Super Disc" for SNES, the direct antecedent of the first Playstation.

Yeah good idea follow the strategy of a company who's system is in the bottom place declining each year and destroyed their console business completely.....very wise decision I wonder why not enough successful companies thought about this before....

Yeah, Sony only owns the movie rights to Spider-Man and that has some synergy with their gaming division, but anyone can make a Spider-Man game if they want to license it from Marvel.

As for the question, I don't think Sony is in any hurry to become a fully open publisher. Their current model is working just fine, and I believe they have created more and more revenue as they have progressed through the generations. PS3 was a bit of a blunder of course and the current missteps with their MMO aspirations have been a setback, but they are still in a good position for the long run.

Also, sometimes it's better to see how your competition fares in their new endeavors first, before rushing to copy them.

It already is, so... no hurry XD

Their consoles sell and they get a ton of money from third party content on their system. MS going third party is giving Sony a ton of cash, as per the quarterly report 64% of software revenue for Xbox games was on PlayStation last quarter, and Sony get a cut of that. Sony make bank on having a closed system generating revenue from third parties, so they have a vested interest in maintaining this and as it stands are looking to become the only real player in the high-performance console market by the time the PS6 roles round. They will use multiplatform releases selectively to generate additional software revenue but in a calculated way that won't destroy their hardware sales, unlike MS.