Something tells me you're right, they'll just play the long game. These games will all require PSN accounts and they'll be mandatory. They're just relenting in the here and now because of the massive fuck up it's been.

I still say that they should have done it the soft way. Make PSN creating and linking optional. If you don't do it, you can't cross play with PS players. It's that simple. I mean heck, people have also mentioned they would do it if they were incentivized. A skin, or some in game currency or something to sweeten the deal.