The one defense I'll give it is that when Nintendo's was free it was absolutely pitiful/unusable. Really you couldn't do any meaningful online MP on nintendo consoles until the switch. I don't like paying for it but clearly it's the only way resources get dedicated to it.

The other consideration - though not really a defense because it's not necessary - is that with Xbox for $60/yr I don't just get the online component, but 3 free games/mo. Most are garbage but I always end up with 4 or 5 games a year that I wouldn't have otherwise played (How I discovered XCOM!) that I really enjoy OR I get super lucky and some game I wanted to buy but haven't ponied up for drops (I got AC: Black Flag for instance one time). It's a hell of a value add at least!