| Erik Aston said: Don't overplay FF13. While Sony won't be able to match the shock value, maybe they have another LBP sized game to show off. If a game like LBP sells 3M copies, and really diversifies the game lineup, that more than equals the damage of losing exclusivity on FF13, which is only going to sell about 3M copies on 360. So if Sony just shows off another really original, potential breakout hit like that, they've matched FF13 in my book, in every category except shock. |
This really is a breath of reason, I suppose. The actual number of extra 360s this sells plus the number of sales of PS3s to 360 owners it prevents will almost certainly be under, say, 2 million. That's supposing the game sells as much as the best selling FF ever (10m) and 1/5 of those consumers base their console-buying decisions primarily on the game, which is probably being very generous.
In reality, a really good showing of a couple new titles like GoW3 will probably make more of a direct difference to sales than this does. But as you said, it's the shock and awe of the thing that can't be matched, and it'll be hard to put a dollar value on the PR this has generated. The talk of the gaming world is that MS has staged an earth-shattering coup against Sony, and something like that might change the perceptions of a few people not even interested in the game. I expect the rumours that the 360 is a dying whale, for example, to stop entirely.
