This one made me wonder if they don't get telemetrics about how people are playing the game to improve the game (or build a new game) from without doing this. And if that same data would be valuable to data brokers in general or if it's more valuable as an internal trade secret.
Yes, it would be just for Sony to get it; not meaning to say it isn't collected at all by the developer. Before this, I would have thought they'd share that with the publisher (this case Sony) anyway.
In my experience with telemetry, it's100% about understanding how the product is performing and being used, and 0% about monitoring individual users. Telemetry data has little to no value for anyone not directly supporting the product.
I expect media companies to be greedy. What feels absurd is when they act out of blind, unmonetized efforts of control that seem to hurt their bottom line - like forcing employees to commute instead of work from home.