It’s true, there was no consolidation or acquisition before MS bought Bethesda.
Aside of course from all the ones which actually happened during that time as a result of EA, Activision, THQ/Embracer gobbling plenty of studios and publishers like Maxis or Codemasters. And also the huge mergers like Activision with Blizzard. And smaller things like Facebook buying Ready at Dawn or others to turn into VR studios.
Aside from those dozens of examples there has been no consolidation, it’s only a MS thing.
This is basically a whataboutism. EA, Activision, THQ/Embracer are NOT platform holders. They are publishers (and an investment firm, in Embracer's case). They may have "gobbled" up independent developers but those companies are still themselves independent 3P publishers who would otherwise want the status quo in terms of how the console market operates, to stay intact, because that benefits THEM.
They don't also have console hardware AND a subscription service vertically integrated into their corporate structure, 100% under their control, where they can leverage those acquisitions to potentially strong-arm other publishers and platform holders within the market, and indirectly strong-arm customers in such a way as well. At most, EA has one of the two, a sub service, whose main home is on a very open platform with no traditional "closed garden" ecosystem (PC).
Facebook is a different example. They bought Ready at Dawn because Sony didn't want to commit to purchasing them. Sony could've bought them if they wanted, they simply weren't interested. Facebook was entering the market as a VR platform holder, it made sense for them to acquire smaller developer teams to shore up internal software for a new venture in a new market segment. They aren't an entrenched platform holder who's been in the industry for 20 years suddenly deciding the answer to "compete" is to consolidate massive 3P publishers into them.
So that is a big difference, and what Microsoft have set a precedent for is very different from the examples you listed.
This 100%. I don't care if Sony doesn't outright buy these companies. I at least want them to invest in them enough to where they cannot be pulled away from the platform.
Well, they are making investment into companies like Kadokawa, FromSoft etc. so things should come of that, and I think part of the reason they're making those investments are exactly for the reason you mention because realistically Sony doesn't have the type of money to compete head-on with these massive acquisitions the way Microsoft, or Apple or Amazon can, just as examples.
So if they can secure big shares or majority shares in multiple companies, they still have a lot of sway and input into content from those companies coming to their platforms. That's probably the best consolation prize they can net in all of this. I expect Nintendo to also start investing shares into more 3P publishers going forward because contrary to belief, they actually
do rely a good deal on having at least semi-robust 3P support. Every console of theirs that's failed did so because of lack of decent 3P support; they know this.
