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PlayStation Home has 12 million users photo

Despite creeping me the f*ck out PlayStation Home is growing, and growing quickly. At GDC this year Jack Buser kicked off Sony's final day at the convention talking about PlayStation Home. This is an area he should know plenty about since he is Home's director. He opened the talk by telling the crowd that Home now had 12 million users, and that 85 percent of them returned more than once to the game program MMO thing. In fact that number means that the userbase for Home has doubled since last year and grown by 2 million since December. Guess those PS3 sales really are up.

The rest of Buser's talk was primarily about how developers can make better in-Home games, but he did mention that we would be seeing a lot more Home/game interaction like inFamous had. "It's [Home] an Incredibly important part of [Sony's] strategy," he noted.

I've accessed Home twice since I got my PS3, so I suppose I am technically in that 85 percent of people who are not one-offers. It was creepy and strange and I didn't go back. However, if this is going to be a truly big part of the Sony platform I may have to force myself to enjoy it more, but until the time I feel I'm actually missing something I'll be steering clear.








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Matthew Razak is Destructoid's Associate editor and co-founder of film site Flixist. He began as community member "cowzilla" and was since sequestered to write brainy features material. He lives in Los Angeles with his beautiful wife. Likes Games! Movies! Hats! Meet the rest of the team



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38 comments | showing # 1 to 38
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Drakengard's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/14/2010 18:08
Drakengard
Don't feel bad. I've yet to go on home. Its just another form of weirdness that the net has spawned and most sane people probably wish it had never been through of.

In paraphrasing of Jon Stewart's Daily Show, the internet is like Mexican food. Its the same stuff in different proportions. Home is nothing more than the net, which is a mix of creepy perverts, trolls, and those unlucky enough to go on expecting something different.
deityofanime's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/14/2010 18:09
deityofanime
I'll go back to Home once it stops sucking. All the money Sony has and this is what they come up with?
mgspada's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/14/2010 18:11
mgspada
Home is pretty boring, but there was like a week where I'd go on every night to stir up trouble with the people that take it way too seriously. I actually hopped on last night for the first time in ages, got in a fight with someone because I was berating him for paying real money to get himself a Grim Reaper outfit, and then quickly realized why Home is the dumbest fucking thing on the planet. People like that dude. And probably people like me.

Basically, Home is stupid.
kylamity's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/14/2010 18:20
kylamity
In "Home" you can't really do anything.
garethxxgod's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/14/2010 18:20
garethxxgod
It's been a while since I targeted male/female conversations by standing in the middle and doing 'Da Running Man' while the pair in question desperately try to allude the power that is 'Da Running Man' by running around whatever place in home the 13/14 year olds are hanging at.

Now I kinda miss it. ;(
jaygerbomb's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/14/2010 18:21
jaygerbomb
I've been on once intentionally. Once accidentally (was overzealous with my scrolling and went to Home instead of the Store). Yet I can't bring myself to delete it, just in case it actually does serve a purpose one day.
Elsa's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/14/2010 18:26
Elsa
... the problem is that some people are using Home as a game, and are therefore not actually buying games or playing games. It's Facebook - on steroids. A monumental social time waster with minigames. I don't see the profitability in having people in a free space not buying content for their PS3 (aside from some outfit that costs $1.50).

They really need to re-examine the clubhouse aspect of Home and make if functional for large gaming groups - for GAMERS. The clubhouses if tweaked would be ideal for large clans, groups (such as Dtoid) or other gaming websites if they were geared more towards functionality... a game calendar, unlimited memberships, game launching, etc. A space where people could gather, break up into MAG squads and launch directly into the game. A starting point for people that actually play games.

Instead... it's a virtual bar for 14 year olds that have apparently never talked to a "real" girl.
Adonai's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/14/2010 18:30
Adonai
I downloaded it, went into it once, haven't gone back. I use my PS3 to play games, and whilst it looks kinda like the Sims, it obviously isn't. Boring.

Haven't removed it in case other people in my household want to use it, but I can't see me going back there.
moominsean's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/14/2010 18:32
moominsean
i don't find it interesting at all. and every time you go there you have to stare at an update screen for 10 minutes, and then if you want to do anything besides wander around and dance, you have to stare at loading screens.
Haizeus's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/14/2010 18:34
Haizeus
If Home had voice chat, the limited form of media sharing that was promised pre-beta, game launching, and a stronger focus on actual gamers then Sony would have a real winner. Honestly, I get the feeling that the only people that use it are little siblings and girlfriends.
Mulk Calathar's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/14/2010 18:35
Mulk Calathar
I've gone to Home a total of three times. It did not make me happy ANY of those times.
runtheplacered's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/14/2010 18:44
runtheplacered
That's funny, I've also been there twice. Once when it first opened up.. then again a month or so later to see if there was any actual "content" of any sort there now.

I've never been back.
Evergreen's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/14/2010 18:55
Evergreen
I used Home before. I quit after 10 minutes because I thought I was doing it wrong. I came back two days later, spent an hour figuring out what I was supposed to do, and then quit. I uninstalled it and realized it was the most pointless waste of bandwidth.
Mr Andy Dixon's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/14/2010 18:56
Mr Andy Dixon
"Home now had 12 million users, and that 85 percent of them returned more than once."

Like others have mentioned, this describes me perfectly. I logged in once when I first got my PS3, and then again a few weeks later to show my friend how ridiculous it was.
BS3 Owner's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/14/2010 19:21
BS3 Owner
I have NOT logged into PS Home @ ALL[period]
garethxxgod's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/14/2010 19:23
garethxxgod
@ Elsa

They have that for Warhawk, though I haven't actually launched the game from there myself.

That does sound like a good idea though for a meet and play. With MAG's numbers who knows how crazy that could get (maybe Home couldn't support it) but it'd be neat for an alternative meetup before play.
garethxxgod's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/14/2010 19:24
garethxxgod
@ Elsa

They have that for Warhawk, though I haven't actually launched the game from there myself.

That does sound like a good idea though for a meet and play. With MAG's numbers who knows how crazy that could get, maybe Home couldn't support it.
garethxxgod's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/14/2010 19:25
garethxxgod
I stand by my second post cuz I was repeatin' myself.
RenegadePanda's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/14/2010 19:28
RenegadePanda
Home quickly turned from 'interesting distraction' to 'complete waste of HDD space' for me. I think it topped somewhere around 4 GB of space, which is pretty much equal to one average game install.

For the life of me I couldn't find anyone who was active and talkative at the same time. Then there were the people blaring music over their mics while dancing (and idle). There wasn't really much to do, despite people telling me otherwise. And having to download every chunk of Home as I traveled got severely annoying, especially if the wifi dropped or my net started chugging. Plus, with all the customization I couldn't make my Home avatar look even remotely similar to me. It's pretty bad when my XBL avatar bares more of a resemblance to me than a realistic one.

So now that HDD space is being used by my permanent install of MGS4, just in case I ever have a sudden urge to play it again.
The Silent Protagonist's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/14/2010 19:42
The Silent Protagonist
Its not about how many people logged in at some point, but about how many people use it on average and I'm going to bet that averaged is dramatically lower than 12 million. Probably even less that 50k, and I think I'm being generous.
DtoidBadMrK's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/14/2010 19:49
DtoidBadMrK
LMAO 12 million people logged into Home once, and realized how much it blows, so they never went back.
Elsa's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/14/2010 20:13
Elsa
@gareth... yeah, you can launch certain games from within Home... but there is the problem of meeting up. Home is comprised of various 64 person "instances" so if you log into Home you can't arrange to meet a group of people in a specific place unless you are on each other's buddy lists and then have the problem of "joining buddy" and hoping that there is still room in that Home instance.

The clubhouses also have a limit (I believe it's 32) and this is fine... but they limit membership also to 32... even though the chances of all members using the clubhouse at the same time is minimal. If they opened the membership to as many members as you wanted... but still limited the "instance" of the clubhouse to 32 (basically 32 seats... first come, first serve) this would work MUCH better.

... for example, this way any Dtoid PS3 owner could be a clubhouse member... and if they chose to drop by the clubhouse to get a game of whatever going, the clubhouse would be limited to 32 people... but at any point in time there likely would be room. This would work out great for say the Friday Night Fights (better yet if they could expand the clubhouse to encompass a full 64 person instance).

Meh... the point is that as a gamer I can't meet up with my own clan without jumping through hoops and barrels. It should be easier.
broonor's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/14/2010 20:35
broonor
Home is basically one giant interactive ad with comments by the users possible. The games included are trite, and the costumes are what they are; if you like making your avatar look a certain way, more power to you. But it's just ads for now... I hope.
Ghouls's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/14/2010 21:10
Ghouls
I guess signing up and logging in for 5 mins does constitute myself as a "user"... I'd spin those numbers that same way.
sewerraccoon's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/14/2010 21:20
sewerraccoon
probably helps that the home icon is a similar blue color to the store icon. I've gone to home on accident countless times
Gorescream's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/14/2010 21:38
Gorescream
Yay! Slowly getting there guys ^_^ Congratulations! You'll get there ;).
Hiltz's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/14/2010 22:24
Hiltz
Those 12 million poor bastards.

You guys deserve better than Home. Even Sony knows that much. Sadly, it ain't willing to change a damn thing.
parrothead's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/14/2010 22:32
parrothead
Do I count as one of those users because I went on twice, got creeped the fuck out and never went back on?
Quesa's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/14/2010 22:41
Quesa
We've come a long way. From active users to concurrent subscribers to 'they even came BACK at least once!'
Orionsaint's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/14/2010 22:43
Orionsaint
12 million people in home with nothing to do, but walk around and look at things, maybe play the occasional ultra simplistic mini-game, get bored and turn home off. I keep giving home a chance, but it's always the same thing.
John Johnson's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/14/2010 23:45
John Johnson
I suppose I count as a user, despite the fact that I piled all my 'furniture' in my 'apartment' against the front door and then haven't logged on in months.
TJH518's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/14/2010 23:53
TJH518
Before I had any games for my PS3 I went on and checked out Home. I revisited Home for the first time in months last night for a total of 30 seconds. I was though "Oh, well this is the same as it was months ago; boring" and logged off immediately. I wonder how many of those users clock in 6 or more hours in a week, hell, a month.
Twin65050's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/15/2010 00:13
Twin65050
For me, home got pretty boring after the first 20 min. I guess it's cool for what it is tho
Sexualchocolate's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/15/2010 04:31
Sexualchocolate
All Home needs is those TV's and picture frames promised in the early videos.

If my buddies can come to my space and watch an episode of something off my PS3 HDD, we will all use home a whole lot more, combined with the PSeye directional mic, we could literally watch shows together and chat as if we were in the same room!

That would make Home a viable app for me, as it stands I've removed it to save space.

But if they add TV's i'll redownload it for sure.
LemonSaint's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/15/2010 07:44
LemonSaint
@sexualchocolate:
The tv's would be awesome. They do have the picture frames, (added them a while ago). I'm pretty sure you just download it when you are in the mall.
SnatchTease's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/15/2010 07:59
SnatchTease
You know how I know you're gay?
Rezaur Rahman's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/23/2011 04:13
Rezaur Rahman
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