Sony definitely had interest in Boundless, I’ll just link this post/article again rather than repost it -
Sounds like Sony’s interest is why Turbulenz did go all-in on Boundless.
Reading more about Spartacus, appears that there will be different tiers but it isn’t going to be the AAA and day 1 stuff like Game Pass. So more than ever, I think Sony’s best move is to get a LOT of more unique stuff like this on their service when it launches. Customers will ask, why do I want the top tier of this service in addition to or instead of GP? Boundless may be always end up being niche, but to a browsing prospective buyer who probably isn’t going to look all that deep into each offering before making a decision, it will be intriguing and, hey, free MMO - hits a need and will have strong stickiness with some players.
It is hard to knock something out of an established niche, and can’t expect Boundless to do that to Minecraft, but it COULD do much better than currently if on a service like that, enough to be healthy and have the lifespan and development it deserves. And if I’m Sony, the money to get this done and keep the game going isn’t a big drop, if I’m them I’m focused more than anything on doing whatever it takes to make the overall package more alluring to a potential subscriber.