Initially, I was ready to write off the whole mess as a very unfortunate occurrence that would eventually fade into memory. But now it seems that the rabble rousing has picked up quite a large amount of steam, with some of it coming from surprising sources. I'm beginning  to wonder now if this is something that can be so easily recovered from, especially now with the hack of SOE.

I'm not positing that Sony is on the precipice of ruin. They have enough other arms of their corporation that have not been effected by this that can continue to support them. I am beginning to wonder though that, should things not go favorably for them for the rest of the PS3's lifespan, if we are looking at the last major Sony console.

This is hardly the first time Sony has had issues with security. The PSP was such and insecure platform that it was abandoned by developers. I highly doubt that the PS3 will the in a similar state now, but from a security standpoint, the Sony brand name has been severely damadged. Going forward into the next generation of consoles, Sony is going to have to crunch the numbers to see if investing in air-tight, bullet-proof security is going to be worth it. It doesn't make business sense to dump all that money into a product that won't turn a profit, and the improved hardware on top of the added security is only going to drive the price of the machine up further, which is the primary reason the PS3 has such a limping start. Combine a high cost of entry with a wounded brand name, and you're looking at a potential disaster. 

Sony is a corporation, and corporations have to make money. And I'm beginning to wonder if gaming is going to continue to be a profitable venture for Sony.