It is funny how some are predicting the premature demise of the PS brand. They must be quite young. Atari, Sega, Amiga, Spectrum...they all left the hardware business after more than a decade of trouble none were anywhere near as rich as Sony.

i would only be bothered if it was nintendo. cuz they always make the highest quality hw (not necessarily the most powerful) and they are the only company that ever innovates when it comes to how we play games (i.e. controller shoulder buttons, rumble, analog stick, motion control, always has the ergonomically best controllers). i feel innovation in the industry would pretty much die with nintendo. sony and microsoft while offering good systems usually have bad hw problems (psx, ps2, xbox, 360), every system they've launched has been expensive, and the only things they've added to hw is sony pushing higher storage discs which isn't always needed or wanted and dual analog sticks which was just an upgrade to nintendo's innovation and microsoft added harddrives and full online.

it would certainly be terrible if both sony and microsoft left the console business, just like it would be terrible if nintendo left the console business. but just one company leaving, whether its sony or microsoft, wouldn't bother me in the least bit, cuz then that'd just mean more games for the other two and one less system to buy to get all the great games. so no ps3 being sony's last console would not bother me in the slightest.

I've never owned a Playstation or really wanted one but I hope Sony doesn't leave the industry.. Competition is good for creativity and keeping prices down.. plus a lot of jobs would be lost if Sony exits the industry.

I much prefere sony over microsoft.

I deffinatly would NOT care if the 360 was microsofts last console.

Since you put it that way ok so Nintendo's demise would be hardest felt....but this gen for the hardcore gamer at least, the Wii has been the worst console.

I like how Sony's internal developers have large budgets and free reign to focus exclusively on and make the most out of one platform. If Sony were to leave the hardware business, all that would come to an end, and it would suck.

I also grew up with Sony consoles, but I still wouldn't care. All my favourite games would likely start being released on the other consoles, so it really wouldn't make a difference to me at all besides the fact that my 60GB PS3 would probably go up in value.

Though, all the jobs lost in Sony's gaming hardware division, of course, would not make me happy.

YES IT WOULD BOTHER ME!

 Yep! Either one of those 2 can be replaced with any electronics or software giant...

The PS3 wouldn't bother me so much... I don't own a Sony console, and never have... Although it still wouldn't be very good for Market Growth, just because its not doing as well doesn't mean its any less important to the market... It would also be a great brand name dying out... which is never good...

Microsoft would bother me a little, I've played the 360 many times, and each time its been a blast... I've considered buying one many times, but something always "Came Up". However, I could live without them...

I grew up with Nintendo, like almost all of there franchises, and would be kinda upset if they went... Mainly because of one thing... Nintendo already said that if they went out of the console market, they would give up making software as well... That alone is enough to make anyone want them to live on...