For some anecdotal support. I convinced a friend to give CS1 a go. Hes just recently completed CS2. Hes now bought FC
And that is absolutely how it works. A lot of companies are afraid of doing a continuous story like Falcom has done, because it means maintaining a customer long for a very, very long-term scenario.
However, while it is difficult (have you noticed how many times the games have been reprinted?) to do the above, if you can 'future proof' the games in a way or keep them released with current console generations, then you are pretty much guaranteed to keep building your customer base for that exact reason.
I won't be surprised if Falcom, at some point, eventually starts doing PS4 rereleases, just to simply get it back up in the "current time." In Japan, not only was the Sora trilogy on PC and PSP, but it was also on PS3, thanks to the PSP remaster series- as well as Zero and Ao both being available via the Evolution versions and as downloads on PSN for Vita owners. Now that we're up a new console and if the Vita will soon begin to be phased out, it'll be time to do something new *there*, too- and I doubt that Falcom will be forgetting Zero and Ao and letting them fall behind, simply because of its relationship to the Sen/Cold Steel series.
Falcom's been good at keeping the Sora trilogy available to current gamers in Japan. Since we have them on Steam, they should be good and stick around with English speaking gamers, too- because now we have no worries about console updates as well, on top of things.
