The Big Three Most to Least Consumer Friendly

1. Microsoft -- Their early mistakes with the Xbox One have caused them to focus on being incredibly consumer-centric with the best monthly free games (Games with Gold), mod-support, backwards compatibility going back two generations, X-Box Game Pass, and free PC/Xbox crossbuy on digital titles.

2. Sony -- After ending the Xbox brand at E3 2013 and being the consumer champion the previous generation, Sony has really gone backwards. Charging a yearly fee for PSN has meant that (with some exceptions) the free games are paltry at best. PSN does typically have the best and most frequent sales on their online store. Mod-support for games like Skyrim and Fallout 4 does exist but it's much more restricted than on Xbox. The only subscription service available on Playstation is the Playstation Now streaming service that is twice the price of Xbox Game pass. It has improved though from the standpoint that many Playstation 4 titles can now be downloaded directly to the system. Services like EA Access were not allowed on PSN due to perceived competition with Sony's own service. Backwards compatibility does exist but only from the standpoint of PS2 classics. The PS2 games have to be re-purchased on PSN. They do upscale to 1080p with Trophy support, but support for additional PS2 classics on PS4 seems all but dead after the initial wave of games. Many people are also not fans of Sony's hardline stance against cross-platform play (Although I dislike crossplatform play on any competitive multiplayer title).

3. Nintendo -- Their hardline anti-emulation stance really irks me, especially given that they have used ROMs downloaded from the internet on their online stores for the Wii/Wii U/3DS. Emulation, especially when we're talking about emulating decades old games. It's obvious that Nintendo sees emulation as competition with NES Online, but people will buy that service to play classic games on the Switch not just to play them in general. Nintendo's design philosophy behind the consoles they develop also seems geared towards milking the consumer for as many accessories as possible. The Switch Joycon is $80 for both the left and right and $50 for a single pack. The Switch Pro Controller (which I do recommend if you play the Switch primarily in docked mode) costs $70. Admittedly I think the Wii was the biggest offender with all the things you could plug into the Wii-Mote. Their online service is cheaper than the competition's, but NES Online is lackluster thus far. It's clear that they are slowly dripping out games to add to the service in order to keep you subscribed, there are no dedicated servers for online multiplayer, and not every game supports cloud saving. There games are also almost always full price or never any cheaper than $40 regardless of how long they've been out unless we're talking about re-releases like Nintendo Select (which doesn't exist for Switch yet).