I didn't buy myself. It seems many in the hardcore community did though. Interestingly there was no EA "we set another sales record" press release, which is surprising to me given the increase in the number of systems out there (across the board). I have friends that would be considered casual fans that did purchase the game, those that would've been considered fanatics in the PS2-era. Of the three that have it, 2 like it but has says the game has "issues". The other says it's issues are too steep and returned it for the PS2 version - and he's a new PS3 owner that really wanted the game to show off his new plasma.
What I wonder is will the casual fans be the ones making the stand the hardcore gamers refuse to make. While I feel EA is headed in the right direction, the problem is how long it's taken them to get on the right track. This year's game feels like it's what '06 should've been, or at the very least '07. And I think many EA titles have that stigma. It'll be interesting to see if Peter Moore is there to shake things up or if he's there to heighten the already high emphasis on hype they place into their games