I welcome the move to streaming services. The reason we have hardware is because game streaming isn't really viable...for now.
This is the same place video streaming was 10-15 years ago. People had to buy a dvd player and dvds to watch content. Now you don't need to because the infrastructure is much better and viable for hundreds of millions of people around the world.
Instead of focusing on the outdated model of tying exclusives to physical hardware, you can just tie it to an online subscription service. I get bryans point of the importance of exclusives - attract people to your ecosystem. Just look at all the video services- they have exclusive content to attract people. Im sure sony and MS can do the same
without the need for hardware.
(Not really the focus of the thread....however)
It really doesn't matter about infrastructure.... with console supply constrained and streaming available from multiple vendors (Xcloud, PSNow, Luna, Stadia, Gforce etc etc) it was the ultimate chance for cloud to take off, especially with CP2077 being superior on the service to other places.
Gamers and consumers just don't care....you can't make consumers do something they don't want or care about.
My question to you is: How many people do you think are waiting to hear cloud gaming is a fraction of a second less lag on average than before?? So they can move permanently to cloud gaming?? Not Many is the answer.
Also the revenue structure chart you posted is only possible due to hardware....if you eliminate hardware and now only have the PSNow subscription, you lose 47 million PSPlus subscriptions..... and ypu probably use a huge chunk of your MTX cause instead of owning the console and having cash free each month, the customer is now paying the PSNow / streaming sub.
The chart above only really shows the growth of 3rd party sales and the massive growth of free to play and MTX, which is now PlayStations biggest revenue stream. (Fortnite, Warzone, Genshin Impact etc)
Basically if they go streaming, it will destroy the model and cut the revenue in less than half in no time short.
People pay for the hardware up front so they can then use their disposable monthly income to spend on games, MTX, add ons and subs.How can one sub make up for all that lost income????