It is what it is OP. People will pay for convenience and that's pretty much that. I know the argument of Steam is always brought up but people aren't versed on playing games on their computers and would rather buy consoles to do so.
In a way, PC gaming gets away with not costing anything for distributor like steam. Like the least they can do is make playing online free since they are doing just that, but gaming console companies have to make the box, make the games and host other peoples games. Even have to fund some of them and help with marketing cost.....so yeah, paying for online access is wrong but it's also a small inconvenience for me to pay for considering they handle so much of the hard work that we really aren't paying that much for, multi-million dollar company or not. That's just how I see it, so I'll pay for that convenience. And now, there's benefits to paying which isn't just paying to play online but added discounts and free (rentable) games that are yours as long as you have the service, etc etc etc.