Seriously, they are already getting a cut on every single game sold due to licensing. They discontinue services very early too for tons of games because the companies making the games are the actual hosts anyway.

So I guess we pay for shitty voice chat and some updates? and the privilege of them unlocking the ability of playing multiplayer. Imagine if microsoft charged a subscription for updates for normal users, or they charged a subscription to connect to a network connection.

It used to be way better than what you got for free, because they put up the infrastructure to make it better for what you paid. But not long after Sony started charging for online, the way the wind was blowing in the industry meant you were, more often than not, playing on the publisher's servers and not Sony's. So what are you even paying for anymore? Friends lists, I guess?

*play multi-player over the internet connection you provide.

Main reason I don"t even bother to turn on my PS4/5 anymore. I can't justify a PS+ sub just to play one game online anymore.

Yup, when that became mandatory on all consoles, I stopped buying consoles.

The PS3 offered free online multiplayer with no subscription required, and at the time it seemed unlikely that players would ever accept paying simply to access online gaming. Then Xbox introduced Xbox Live subscriptions, and the industry shifted in that direction. Looking back, I underestimated how willing the gaming community would be to normalize recurring fees for online access and now paid online services have become the standard across the industry.