https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/4/22609150/sony-playstation-...
Consoles are often sold at a loss initially but quickly become profitable as hardware costs fall.
The razor-and-blades model isn't as ubiquitous as you might believe.
For years this model has worked great in physical media sales, I don't have a problem with it in online media.
If we want companies like Sony to produce consoles they need a way to make them profitable. It's an extremely risky investment with no guarantee of success.
Lastly if 30 percent is "unfair" developers would not use the platform. But they do. Same for consumers. If all parties in this didn't derive value they wouldn't trade with each other.
My PS3 was my last console for this reason. Developers pay the publishing charge and make up the loss with micro-transactions or shallow GOTY editions. In cases where they don't add tedious amounts of "grind" mechanics to extend gameplay time, they'll just make them multiplayer-centric.
The whole thing has become a racket.
Sure, considering the platform-game paradigm different products sources cross subsidize one another a different stages of their life cycles. This is just how firms work, and is often mostly a matter of accounting.