I very much believe this strategy came straight from the top.
I assume that it is widely believed that account activation enables all kinds desirable outcomes - additional data collection, product stickiness, a marketing target, a pre-activated credit card, etc - even if it is customer hostile and customers absolutely hate it.
We've long been in the phase of consolidated corporate capitalism where a company as large as Sony believes they can just force you to do what they want, if they believe it's good for them.
Unfortunately, without competition, they are probably right to believe this, at least in the short to medium term. I think that people just don't tend to vote with their dollar, like they should, when there are no alternatives. But I do think that companies that are customer-hostile eventually pay the price, even if two, or three, or ten executive teams get to cash out first.
I assume that it is widely believed that account activation enables all kinds desirable outcomes - additional data collection, product stickiness, a marketing target, a pre-activated credit card, etc - even if it is customer hostile and customers absolutely hate it.
We've long been in the phase of consolidated corporate capitalism where a company as large as Sony believes they can just force you to do what they want, if they believe it's good for them.
Unfortunately, without competition, they are probably right to believe this, at least in the short to medium term. I think that people just don't tend to vote with their dollar, like they should, when there are no alternatives. But I do think that companies that are customer-hostile eventually pay the price, even if two, or three, or ten executive teams get to cash out first.