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PlayStation Home 'not a priority right now' for Sony, most people seem to feel the same way (update: misquote)
Just earlier this month we'd been hearing word from Sony that it was seeing PlayStation Home as more of a "social game platform" than a "social network," and now we're hearing that Sony might not be seeing it as much of anything. Peter Edward, the director of Home for Sony, says that the service is "not a priority right now." Kind of at odds with his other statement that it's "proved there is a market out there and we've got a lot of people that spend a lot of time in [Home]," but we'll let is slide. So, is this a roundabout way of saying Home hasn't been as great as Sony thought it would be, or just a different way of saying the emphasis is changing? We've never minded Sony's Home efforts on their own, but in the context of an also-ran multiplayer platform, it's easy to see why the company should be focusing on other aspects of the gaming experience. Update: Sony has gone on record saying that this statement as reported by T3 from a talk at the London Games Conference is a misquote, instead saying that Peter was talking about how monetizing Home was not as big a priority as building the platform -- which others have confirmed.
Fewer than 1 in 3 PS3 systems connected to PlayStation Home
According to Peter Edward, director of PlayStation Home for SCEE, PlayStation Home has gained 7 million users worldwide, with 3 million in Europe alone. That certainly sounds like an accomplishment -- but with over 21 million PS3s sold worldwide, that number reveals that fewer than one third of PS3 systems have connected to Home. That's a surprising figure, considering Edward calls Home "the starting point for PlayStation 3 online."There are a number of factors behind the PS3 community's slow acceptance of PlayStation Home. A long-delayed launch was marred by infrequent updates; the service received a mixed response from hardcore gamers. Since then, Home has expanded quite significantly, with the promise of more to come. Edward told Gamasutra that we can expect "more games [to] support Game Launch from within Home" in the future.%Poll-31332%
More and more people heading back Home
In an interview given to The Escapist, Home game director Peter Edward asserts user population for Sony's PS3 virtual world is on the upside. "We're at the point now where we're starting to see our active user-base go up and we're getting more people coming back than are leaving," said Edward. "So, we're at the tipping point of where the platform starts to gain momentum." Edward, unfortunately, was shy of detailing specific numbers. Are there more people now than when the service first appeared? Is the overall increase in PS3 owners a factor? Region? And did the recent development of ARG Xi play into this somehow? We still have so many questions. Do you find yourself coming back Home?
Despite 3.4 million downloads, PlayStation Home announced too early
The new virtual world we've written about at Massively, PlayStation Home, seems to have garnered itself a large user base despite getting off to a rocky start. Kaz Hirai of Sony Computer Entertainment mentioned in his Consumer Electronics Show speech that 3.4 million PlayStation 3 users have downloaded Home. It was, however, announced too early according to key members of the Home team in an interview with Develop.Announcing Home back at the 2007 Game Developer's Conference had the effect of stoking the interest of third parties (not to mention gamers and virtual world residents), but there was no where to run with their projects, given the early stage of Home's development at that time. Indeed, Home's Game Director Peter Edward feels that initially some developers were reluctant to get involved, but that situation is beginning to change. Edward says, "The feedback we've been getting is that, in the early days, it was a bit thin on the ground in terms of support and tools, but now it's mature and everybody's starting to produce some really interesting stuff."
Home revealed too early, London Studios dev admits
It's customary after saying something out of turn to ruminate options for a) quickly vacating the premises or b) dulling the memory of anyone within earshot with a swift blow to the head. Customary for everyone, it seems, but Sony, though the company concedes that when it comes to PlayStation Home it probably should have held its tongue a while longer.In the initial segment of a two-part interview with Develop Magazine, Home game director (and, we imagine, bowling expert) Peter Edward opens up about developer reception to Sony's Quincy factory, which was first revealed nearly two years ago. Admits Edward, "We probably announced it too early – GDC 07 was a long time ago. I think there was sort of recognition amongst developers of 'Oh, this is interesting, but there's still a lot of work to be done.'" He adds that devs were "a little cagey" about creating content for the social platform early on, though now that it's a goldmine for fake commerce we imagine some of them will come around.
