Playstation Home: A Success Story for Sony?

Kris Erickson • Mar 31, 2009 • Comments ()

Sony isn’t stopping there, however. Developers Jack Buser and Peter Edward say they have big plans for the platform going forward. The first thing they would like to do is get more third party developers on board creating new experiences for Home. They claim that the number of publishers signed up to participate is growing “exponentially” each day. They would also like to explore creative new uses for the platform, and the recently announced Alternative Reality Game Xi is an example of this new creative push.

When asked how he imagines developers might take advantage of the potential of Home, Buser likened it to a new gaming console.

“People are realising now that Home is a platform. I think there was a misunderstanding during those original couple of years that we were making a game. We weren't. This is much closer to building a game console than a game. We're building a platform that other people can create content for, which is extremely difficult to do. We spent the time to do it right so that today we have something that is a total console differentiator. It is a platform that truly brings community to a game console in a way that you have friends on your friends list who you've never met before in the real world but you know really well.”

We are glad to see that Sony has big plans for their innovative and ambitious platform, and we wish them success in their continued support of Home.

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[Source: Gamesindustry.biz]

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While some observers have lamented the lack of things to do in Sony's new virtual Home environment, the company has big plans for the service. According to Home’s developers, the virtual community has already proven successful for the console maker, and they have the numbers to prove it. Just recently, they reported that at least 5 million people have downloaded the free client software. They also report that the average user spends forty minutes logged on to the service every time they join, a number that they would like to see increase over time. Finally, they claim that the service generated more than 1 million USD in revenue during its first month of operation, as users downloaded paid content for their virtual apartments and avatars. So far, then, it seems that the launch of Home might cautiously be called a success.\n\nSony isn’t stopping there, however. Developers Jack Buser and Peter Edward say they have big plans for the platform going forward. The first thing they would like to do is get more third party developers on board creating new experiences for Home. They claim that the number of publishers signed up to participate is growing “exponentially” each day. They would also like to explore creative new uses for the platform, and the recently announced Alternative Reality Game Xi is an example of this new creative push.\n\nWhen asked how he imagines developers might take advantage of the potential of Home, Buser likened it to a new gaming console.\n\n“People are realising now that Home is a platform. I think there was a misunderstanding during those original couple of years that we were making a game. We weren't. This is much closer to building a game console than a game. We're building a platform that other people can create content for, which is extremely difficult to do. We spent the time to do it right so that today we have something that is a total console differentiator. It is a platform that truly brings community to a game console in a way that you have friends on your friends list who you've never met before in the real world but you know really well.”\n\nWe are glad to see that Sony has big plans for their innovative and ambitious platform, and we wish them success in their continued support of Home. \n\n\n
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