I have alot of friends who don't have alot of money and love Final fantasy and were saving and hoping the console would be avalible for $300 by the time Final Fantasy comes out. But they bought 360s because all of us were playing games on it and there were a good amount of jrpg and wrpg games . Now they simply don't have a reason (yet?).
I know very few people who have yet to buy a next gen console and I think most of them really just don't care about the games and will buy whatever we all play the most when the systems hit $200 bucks
I bolded this part because it's the most important facet IMO. I'm not the kind of guy that has game sales figures on tap, because that's not my scene, but I'd say if we looked at FFXII sales, we could get a rough idea of what Final Fantasy's modern day fan base numbers look like in N America. Now, no doubt it's a couple of million. From that couple million, probably some already own a PS3, and some do not.
Among those that do not, some that might have purchased in the future may now never. But likewise, some that were considering FFXIII as a catalyst, may end up getting a PS3 anyway down the line for other reasons.
I'll look to Scooby and Paranoia's future moves and insights in this regard as they both are individuals with the disposable means to purchase at any time they choose and who were considering the PS3 based on this title. Neither has indicated that they are no longer interested in the system completely though; we're in an era now where although one game alone may be reason enough to buy a system, the absence of that cold calculus doesn't preclude many other motivating factors from coming into play.
I'm considering a 360 again after today for the first time in a while for instance, certainly not to do with the FFXIII news, and irrespective of what will be my continued support for the PS3. It's simply that as certain differentiating/appealing features reach a critical mass unique to each person, consideration rises or falls.
For some percentage of the Final Fantasy fan base (and the next-gen curious at large) that does not already own a PS3 already, the draw for the console may have fallen. But I imagine that it is Sony's intent to raise the appeal in other ways, I think that much goes without saying.
@Droid: The MS/monopoly line of thought is unproductive. Whatever MS' desires, remember that both Sony and Nintendo have larger budgets devoted to the games industry; the XBox division does not have unfettered access to "the billions." So I consider any advances and missteps made by the three relative to one another at this point to be done on a level playing field. If one of them should ever become a monopoly, and both Nintendo and Sony have been close themselves at different times, then we can talk doomsday scenarios.
