you did not pay for the servers, matinence and other things that sony and microsoft have to provide.
its not a scam, you can buy things you have to buy other things to fully access.
Okay, so I think some clarification is necessary. First of all, no matter what platform you're on, publishers and developers tend to run their own servers. If I want to play Rainbow Six Siege on PS4, Xbox or PC, I'm playing on Ubisoft's servers. If I'm playing Overwatch, I'm using Blizzard's servers. Call of Duty and Destiny? Activision's servers. Battlefield and Titanfall? EA's servers. Indie devs might go for player-to-player connections depending on budget. While it is true that some PC games allow you to host your own servers, this isn't the case for the big budget releases anymore. I can't host my own Overwatch, Titanfall, or Rainbow Six Siege server, for example. I played Rising Storm 2 recently, which let me. CSGO does too, but if I want to play the competitive mode I have to use Valve's servers. Call of Duty Black Ops 3 added player owned servers just last year, but most people play on the Activision run servers.
Sony and Microsoft do provide services like friendslists, universal player IDs, and party chat, but these are also services that Valve provides as well. The majority of Steam multiplayer games will use Steamworks to pull the same data, such as Rising Storm 2, various Call of Duty games, Dark Souls, Bethersda and 2K titles, and PUBG (which uses it for friendlists, etc). The only exceptions are of course games that aren't on Steam, or those that require you to set up a third party account (Ubisoft titles).
Microsoft and Sony don't need your $60 to run their service. Valve offers the same services for free. Sony and Nintendo used to offer the same services for free. The only reason they're charging for it is because we told them we're happy to pay for it.
and your anecdote is wrong. you have access to the game without paying the fee just not all of it. I cant access ps4 pro features on my ps4 slim even though I already paid for the game. Id have to pay again for a new console. I can buy a TV and use it for physical media, is it ridiculous that I cant access the netflix app pre installed until I pay netflix and the cable company for internet? Ive already paid for the netflix app!
its wonderful that on PC gamers can have their own servers or developers subsidize the service, but its not a scam that console makers dont.
We're talking about having to pay a charge to use something you already paid for. Saying "I can't access PS4 Pro features on my slim" is a bad example because you didn't pay for a PS4 Pro, you paid for a PS4 slim. Now if you bought a PS4 Pro and had to pay an extra $60 a year to use the extra power otherwise it functions like a slim, that would be a more accurate comparison. Because you
bought a full game, and can't use half of it without paying $60 a year.
"I can buy a TV and use it for physical media, why can't I use it for Netflitx!" Because Netflix is very obviously a separate service, whereas online used to be a free service that is now being charged for. Also, it's a free app whether it's pre-installed or not.
"Why do I have to pay my internet company to use Netflix!?" Because you're paying for a utility. This would be like people complaining that they need to pay their power bill to turn on their console, or pay their internet bill to play online multiplayer.