I agree totally that what you wrote is a legitimate formulation of what constitutes growth, but I'd argue that as we're essentially talking about art/entertainment there's more to it than simple economic metrics. The cultural aspect is very important for sustainability and depth/breadth of audience enthusiasm in non-essential goods.
As someone who's been gaming since the 1970's I'd counter that gaming has always had relatively low-barriers to entry. I don't believe its ever been prohibitively expensive, and in fact I suspect that when inflation and income levels are factored in its at worst remained fairly static cost-wise over the decades. Its hard to quantify because the market's always been multi-dimensional, and obviously technology has greatly broadened the range of gaming devices available.
Your other points I agree are all positives, although there's a lot of wiggle-room on their exact meaning! Which is where I feel we're not on the same page exactly.
For example, I feel like your opinion is that services like Gamepass are a net positive for both the industry and the audience, and your belief is rooted (at least in part) in the factors listed above.
I don't find that take (if indeed, it is where you stand) to be ignorant or unreasonable, I just disagree with the position.
I don't think subjectivity is avoidable to be truthful. I try and support my arguments with objective observations, but ultimately the cumulative picture is always going to be a subjective take because we're trying to predict future outcomes! No crystal ball here, all I can do is look at past and present performance and try and extrapolate forwards.
I'm not, and never have tried to make an argument that Sony are "good" and MS are "bad". As I wrote in an earlier post I don't fault MS in the slightest for their chosen strategy, taking a radically disruptive approach is the right move for them.
I just happen to believe that a number of elements of their business plan are not broadly beneficial to the industry and gaming culture generally. These are things I've believed for years, and are not reactionary to the fact that MS is employing them.
For example I've always believed massive corporate consolidation is bad because when you have so many eggs in the same basket it becomes more about maintaining the integrity of the basket than items contained within. Similarly "a-la-carte" services have always concerned me because I feel like they cheapen the perceived value of the product, its an effect I've seen many times over the years going back to 80's when I saw what happened with people in the "warez" scene. Abundance blunts enthusiasm, it doesn't sharpen it.
OK, sounds like we found some common ground
So my list of what constitutes growth of an industry that you didn't want to add to is below with more fleshed out examples relating to Xbox and Playstation;
Lower barriers to entry
Xbox - As you say, gaming has always had a reasonably low barrier to entry (console gaming especially), it has to as a mass market product. However, to grow further you can lower that barrier further. I believe that Gamepass does lower that barrier further. Xbox have done nothing to raise that bar as far as I can remember.
Playstation - If anything Sony have raised the barrier to entry by increasing prices of both consoles and games whilst doing little to lower it.
Winner - Xbox and it's not even close
Making current products and services more accessible/appealing
Xbox - Gamepass, Xcloud, Play anywhere, Smart delivery, Backwards compatibility, XSX/XSS, adaptive controller, the All Access plan are all aimed at making Xbox both more appealing and more accessible. Transition from previous Xboxes to the new gen is by far the best that any console company have ever done even down to the fact that the previous gen controllers work with the new consoles and they position ports in the same place on the back. It's a pretty impressive set of initiatives to unify the Xbox experience and make it consistent across lots of different devices. Nowadays being an Xbox gamer doesn't limit you to console only.
Playstation - Playstation have not done as much in this space as they could either, transition from PS4 to PS5 for a user is inconsistent and can be confusing with the upgrade path for games and game saves. On the plus side they have a DE that gives a cheaper console option for those who want to go all digital. They have also reformed their service tiers to offer more choice and variety in the offering.
Winner - Xbox
Increase appeal to a wider range of demographics
Xbox - Again I think Gamepass is trying to satisfy this as well by providing a wide range of games. Unfortunately by widening the appeal you also generally have to turn down the hardcore dial and turn up the casual dial. But, because there is a huge variety of games you can tailor individual games to those individual demographics and just accept that at no point will every game ever appeal to ever person. Just like with tins of chocolates at Christmas there are always going to be the coconut and nut ones left (i'm sure someone reading this will say that those are their personal favourites!). On the negative side we have seen evidence (mainly aimed at 343) of hiring by diversity and putting social justice above the business of making great games.
Playstation - Playstation have done little to try and increase appeal to a wider range of people but they do have huge appeal built up judged by worldwide sales and strength in all the markets they are currently in. Their initiative of bringing games to PC as well as their presence in the VR space are really good ways to broaden their appeal. The one thing they have done that's been seen by some as a miss-step is the censoring of games although arguably this has been done to widen appeal.
Winner - Playstation but close
New experiences
Xbox - Generally I think this is Xboxes weakness in the list, they are currently not bringing much in the way of new experiences in the last couple of generations. Maybe design labs can be put into this category, custom controllers have upto this point been something only the elite gamer would have chosen whereas now you could see granny going on and designing a controller for little Jimmy for Christmas. Gamepass does not create new experiences inherently.
Playstation - Sony have really put the effort in to innovate and bring new experiences with PSVR and also the dual sense.
Winner - Playstation
Expanding into untapped territories/markets
Xbox - has expanded into various emerging markets where it can most recently China and India and have also increased efforts in Japan whilst losing ground since 360 in their own home market of USA.
Playstation - Have also expanded into the same emerging markets as well but possibly dropped the ball somewhat in their native Japan.
Winner - A Draw is probably right for this one
I know a common theme running through your posts have been about quality and why not, we all want to play high quality games that appeal to us. However, there is a unavoidable trade off there between making products appeal to a wider market (industry growth) and tailoring games to the core fanbase (quality). The more that these companies try to appeal to a wider base the less they are going to be perfect for any individual We have seen that when hardcore titles try to target a wider audience by numbing down the gameplay, sometimes it pays off sometimes not. Maybe you need to re-evaluate exactly what it is that you want? If you want Sony to concentrate on making the games that you want to play then a consequence of that is that those games are not going to appeal to a wider audience and not going to grow the industry. I think (evidenced above) that Xbox are doing more to bring new people into gaming but that can be seen as potentially been at the detriment of them producing high quality games that appeal to the core fans whereas Sony so far have doubled down on delivering a quality product with little compromise. Microsoft are attempting to mitigate that wider appeal causing a degradation in quality games for their core market by offering a larger variety of games and as such are on a spending spree. This is a valid concern but so far we have not seen an average drop off in quality and as long as the sub numbers go up then that increase in revenue means they can also carry on with both the high quality games and the more casual game whist still making bank. Conversely with Sony we know they have the quality for their core market in their games at the moment but with their drive to appeal to a wider audience there has got to be question marks about whether that drive will have a knock on effect on quality.
Currently we just don't know which approach is going to work the best for us as core gamers but, both approaches could spectacularly pay off or could spectacularly backfire. Interestingly though this gen, the hardware is as close as it has ever been yet the strategy that both companies are taking has diverged somewhat and been turned on it's head from what they have both done previously.
For example I've always believed massive corporate consolidation is bad because when you have so many eggs in the same basket it becomes more about maintaining the integrity of the basket than items contained within. Similarly "a-la-carte" services have always concerned me because I feel like they cheapen the perceived value of the product, its an effect I've seen many times over the years going back to 80's when I saw what happened with people in the "warez" scene. Abundance blunts enthusiasm, it doesn't sharpen it.
This is an interesting comment because I see it as the opposite to you. Microsoft have spread their eggs in as many baskets (console, PC, streaming, native mobile) as possible whilst Sony have put most of theirs into the offline 3rd person action adventure console exclusive basket. I take your comment about the warez scene on board too, I also grew up in the same era as yourself and always looked at Nintendo games as being the high water mark in part due to them being totally unavailable to get a copy of from the guy down the street, they came of carts that I couldn't copy them like i could with tapes or disks for the computers i played on. Nowadays money is not a barrier for me, I don't pirate games anymore and if i want a game I can just buy it. Abundance has blunted my enthusiasm for most AAA stuff out there, i've played those same safe mechanics many many times before and am no longer wowed by cutting edge graphics. Gamepass however has re-invigorated by gaming habits and allows me to try loads of games quickly via Xcloud until I find something that feels fresh to me. I can then download that game and play the shit out of it without worrying about wasting money on buying a load of games I don't want to play.