I guess HOME isn't much of a failure after all

call me old fasioned but home is the only place I have the confidence to chase women around and do the robot dance

Home is a failure until it has XBOX Live numbers. I have no interest in SONY's spin doctoring.

According to this, one can say that the nay sayers and the haters was WAY off key with this prediction.

ermacness

I thought it was a huge fail, Sony should have used the money to secure some exclusive titles

thelastguy

[QUOTE="WilliamRLBaker"]

Its now up to 7 million...counting people that downloaded logged in and never touched it again and likely deleted it from their ps3.

and they now have 25 million psn memebers more people then there are ps3's sold....odd isn't that?

II_Seraphim_II

lol i would if i thought id get more then 50% return on it. but i spent so much time sitting in line to win this thing.

I thought it was a huge fail, Sony should have used the money to secure some exclusive titles

thelastguy

But now they have more money, and it keeps flowing in from home.

[QUOTE="thelastguy"]

I thought it was a huge fail, Sony should have used the money to secure some exclusive titles

shakmaster13

But now they have more money, and it keeps flowing in from home.

I guess I count as one of those 7 million users. I tried Home for a total of 5 minutes before completely ignoring it. And I'm pretty sure that there are more people like me. So those numbers say nothing.nethernova

How was HOME a failure if its FREE? Its an opional feature and its there for you to take advantage of.

RTUUMM

People actually purchased 6 million items? xsubtownerx

While I am sure a lot of the number is purchased items.....It says downloaded......I remember getting some stuff for free.....I think it was an infamous shirt and are they counting the area DL's as part of the 6mil number

lulz, 7 million people going wow, that was boring...

[QUOTE="thelastguy"]

I thought it was a huge fail, Sony should have used the money to secure some exclusive titles

12345678ew

How is it a failure or success? it's a downloadable Vitual world thats "free".... but whatever..Nocturnal_Speed

Well put.

[QUOTE="RTUUMM"]

How was HOME a failure if its FREE? Its an opional feature and its there for you to take advantage of.

The_Game21x

People actually purchased 6 million items? xsubtownerx

I don't know about you guys, but a 33% attach rate for a free service on a high-end product (ie there aren't a ton of PS3 owners who don't have decent internet service) is a failure in my books. Home was supposed to make PSN competitive with XBL in terms of features -- maybe I'm vastly overestimating the PS3 userbase, but I'd say the numbers should be closer to 14+ million total users and 3+ million regular users (ie those who are on the service at least twice a week) for it to be called a success.

I don't know about you guys, but a 33% attach rate for a free service on a high-end product (ie there aren't a ton of PS3 owners who don't have decent internet service) is a failure in my books. Home was supposed to make PSN competitive with XBL in terms of features -- maybe I'm vastly overestimating the PS3 userbase, but I'd say the numbers should be closer to 14+ million total users and 3+ million regular users (ie those who are on the service at least twice a week) for it to be called a success.

PBSnipes

On a related note, Home probably has to be in the top 3 as far as flops go.

Before it came out, it was being touted by Sony fans as something revolutionary that would blow XBL away. Now most cows don't even defend it and the few that do don't make much more than a token effort.

Here's some advice for any other company that wants to do something like Home: If you're going to make a virtual hang-out, for the love of God, make it an exciting place to be!

Mmmm, I'm not going to call it a failure, but it's free isn't it? I don't think 7 million users is impressive unless they use it consistently, and the article said 56 minutes is the average amount of time users have spent exploring the world. Sounds to me like people are just trying it out and then not coming back.

It's interesting that the had such a sudden increase. Did Sony give it a push recently?

deuteris

yea i tried it and haven't gone back. its pointless and boring (good thing its free).sony should focus their attention elsewhere

I don't know about you guys, but a 33% attach rate for a free service on a high-end product (ie there aren't a ton of PS3 owners who don't have decent internet service) is a failure in my books. Home was supposed to make PSN competitive with XBL in terms of features -- maybe I'm vastly overestimating the PS3 userbase, but I'd say the numbers should be closer to 14+ million total users and 3+ million regular users (ie those who are on the service at least twice a week) for it to be called a success.

PBSnipes

I dunno why or from what you assumed that Home was a replacement for PSN or was to provide features to make it more in line with Live. Because it isn't what you or others mistakenly assumed isn't Sony's fault. They made exactly what they claimed they were making. A completely optional and new way to meet with other gamers, learn about new games, and launch into those games. Anything else you assumed... sorry that's your fault for not paying closer attention.

I never thought I'd get much use from Home, and I don't. But it doesn't offend me that it's there for those who do. Options are nice.

It's a free to use, completely optional virtual world and interface. It isn't everyone's cup of tea, and most people only pop in occasionally to see the new areas. Making it into more than what it is seems silly. But trying to berate Sony for providing the option for people who enjoy that sort of thing is stupid.santoron

That's a bit of a strawman. Most people aren't berating them for providing such a thing, they are berating them because it sucks. It was a decent idea that was excecuted horribly. If Sony would have done it right, it could have been a pretty big deal.

[QUOTE="PBSnipes"]

I don't know about you guys, but a 33% attach rate for a free service on a high-end product (ie there aren't a ton of PS3 owners who don't have decent internet service) is a failure in my books. Home was supposed to make PSN competitive with XBL in terms of features -- maybe I'm vastly overestimating the PS3 userbase, but I'd say the numbers should be closer to 14+ million total users and 3+ million regular users (ie those who are on the service at least twice a week) for it to be called a success.

santoron

I dunno why or from what you assumed that Home was a replacement for PSN or was to provide features to make it more in line with Live. Because it isn't what you or others mistakenly assumed isn't Sony's fault. They made exactly what they claimed they were making. A completely optional and new way to meet with other gamers, learn about new games, and launch into those games. Anything else you assumed... sorry that's your fault for not paying closer attention.

I never thought I'd get much use from Home, and I don't. But it doesn't offend me that it's there for those who do. Options are nice.

Quality options are nice.

[QUOTE="santoron"]It's a free to use, completely optional virtual world and interface. It isn't everyone's cup of tea, and most people only pop in occasionally to see the new areas. Making it into more than what it is seems silly. But trying to berate Sony for providing the option for people who enjoy that sort of thing is stupid.Tragic_Kingdom7

That's a bit of a strawman. Most people aren't berating them for providing such a thing, they are berating them because it sucks. It was a decent idea that was excecuted horribly. If Sony would have done it right, it could have been a pretty big deal.

Well, I'm not sure what you mean by "horribly executed", or what the proper execution would have been. Home is basicaly what it always was hyped to be: A "Second Life" type of interface for PS3 users who might enjoy a new type of social interaction. It should be noted though that Home is still only in open beta... which means it is still evolving and changing based of user feedback into a more refined space. If you have legitimate ideas about improving the idea, I bet Sony wouldn't mind hearing them.

[QUOTE="Tragic_Kingdom7"]

[QUOTE="santoron"]It's a free to use, completely optional virtual world and interface. It isn't everyone's cup of tea, and most people only pop in occasionally to see the new areas. Making it into more than what it is seems silly. But trying to berate Sony for providing the option for people who enjoy that sort of thing is stupid.santoron

That's a bit of a strawman. Most people aren't berating them for providing such a thing, they are berating them because it sucks. It was a decent idea that was excecuted horribly. If Sony would have done it right, it could have been a pretty big deal.

Well, I'm not sure what you mean by "horribly executed", or what the proper execution would have been. Home is basicaly what it always was hyped to be: A "Second Life" type of interface for PS3 users who might enjoy a new type of social interaction. It should be noted though that Home is still only in open beta... which means it is still evolving and changing based of user feedback into a more refined space. If you have legitimate ideas about improving the idea, I bet Sony wouldn't mind hearing them.

If you give me a few minutes, I'll explain what makes it horribly exectued andwhat Sony needs to do to make Home more appealing.

I don't care how many other people use it...you couldn't pay me to spend time on Home.

Damn, no pedofile percentage...

Legendaryscmt

3.890%

[QUOTE="Legendaryscmt"]

Damn, no pedofile percentage...

CHRION987

3.890%

Can you even make a child like avatar for Home?

for it to be great it needs to have an arcade loaded with tons of classics that load instantly, and are multiplayer. The movie theatre needs to be streaming live good movies with people coming and going as the movie plays.

I don't care how many other people use it...you couldn't pay me to spend time on Home.

Teufelhuhn

agreed.

it is too bad really, i could have been good.

Home is horribly executed because it is a virtual hang-out in which there is little to do. The idea of a virtual hang-out is fine, but it really does need to have substance to it. There needs to be things in it that makes people feel like Home is a place where they want to spend their time.Simply making it a space where people can interact doesn't really cut it as there are tons of places to do the same kind of thing. It needs to an exciting and unique space where people can interact.

I also dislike the way Sony makes money with home. Purchasing items with real money is pretty ridiculous and something I absolutely refuse to do. Some people may think it's ridiculous to pay for Xbox Live, but I think it's even more ridiculous to pay for virtual items and by having people pay real money for these things, there are missed opportunties (which I will explain in the paragraph after the next).

That being said, I'm not one of those people that think that companies are somehow obligated to give out services for free. I think companies are entitled to make money off of their services (which is why you never hear me taking Microsoft to task for charging for Live). So I think Sony should make money off of Home like this:

They should charge a small fee to use the service, a few bucks a month. And then you shouldn't have to pay for anything inside of Home, like furniture and clothes and what not with real money. The way you would "pay" for these is with virtual cash, which would be obtained by winning in online games (and min-games inside of Home as well). This way, the "Home experience" would be connected with the "PSN experience." And it would give people a hell of an incentive to win matches in online multiplayer games. I also think with virtual cash, an option to give people you make friends with some of your virtual cash would be cool. Another cool idea would be to give the player virtual cash for obtaining trophies.

The thing about charging a small fee to use the service, however, is that for Sony to make money off of it, alot of people have to use it consistently and that means Home would have to actually be good, meaning it would have to have alot more things to do and etc.

But if Home was actually a fun place to be with lots of options and "virtual cash", I don't think they'd have any problem getting people to keep paying a few bucks every month to be there.

Last, but not least, Home looks really boring and sterile. If Home was more visually engaging and had tons of exciting places to explore (maybe there could be virtual cash tucked away in secret spots to create an incentive for exploration), I'd probably give it a bit of my time.

I don't care how many other people use it...you couldn't pay me to spend time on Home.

Teufelhuhn

And therein lies the problem with Home. It seems that alot of people are so turned off by it that it doesn't really matter if it's "free".If Home was actuallycompelling,people wouldn't mind paying a reasonable fee to experience it.

It's a free to use, completely optional virtual world and interface. It isn't everyone's cup of tea, and most people only pop in occasionally to see the new areas. Making it into more than what it is seems silly. But trying to berate Sony for providing the option for people who enjoy that sort of thing is stupid.santoron

Count me as part of that 7M.

Of course, I've spent maybe a total of 1hr in Home, bought nothing and never plan on launching the software again. But hey, it was sorta fun doing the Running Man in between 2 people talking. :)

This thing was hyped so much. It was supposed to be the place to see movie previews, play game beta's, build a great pad and show off all your trophies in your games (like anyone here is interested in someone ELSE'S accomplishments).

I dunno why or from what you assumed that Home was a replacement for PSN or was to provide features to make it more in line with Live. Because it isn't what you or others mistakenly assumed isn't Sony's fault. They made exactly what they claimed they were making. A completely optional and new way to meet with other gamers, learn about new games, and launch into those games. Anything else you assumed... sorry that's your fault for not paying closer attention.

I never thought I'd get much use from Home, and I don't. But it doesn't offend me that it's there for those who do. Options are nice.

santoron

I never said it was supposed to replace PSN. It was, however, supposed to augment PSN by providing community/social features that would allow Sony to offer a superior (or at the very least, highly competitive) online service to XBL for free. You can split hairs about what specifically Sony planned to do with Home all you want, but the fact of the matter is Sony invested millions of dollars and thousands of man-hours in the development of Home, and all they have to show for it is a borderline useless service that is now firmly in perpetual beta, and only ~33% of PS3 owners have even attempted to use it. Options have nothing to do with it, Home is an unmitigated failure.

7 million signed in, tried it once and never came back. HOME is lame. Even with poker.

How is it a failure or success? it's a downloadable Vitual world thats "free".... but whatever..Nocturnal_Speed

It has stuff in it what isn't free, and I get on home every now and again but I buy a ton of stuff even if i don't use it !!!! Its so cheap and who doesn't want a pirate suit!!!!

The best part of home is just going around to people and annoying them!

7 million signed in, tried it once and never came back. HOME is lame. Even with poker.

heretrix

actually the 7 million they said most are recurring

Home is truly EPIC but only it's failure.

[QUOTE="santoron"]

I dunno why or from what you assumed that Home was a replacement for PSN or was to provide features to make it more in line with Live. Because it isn't what you or others mistakenly assumed isn't Sony's fault. They made exactly what they claimed they were making. A completely optional and new way to meet with other gamers, learn about new games, and launch into those games. Anything else you assumed... sorry that's your fault for not paying closer attention.

I never thought I'd get much use from Home, and I don't. But it doesn't offend me that it's there for those who do. Options are nice.

PBSnipes

I never said it was supposed to replace PSN. It was, however, supposed to augment PSN by providing community/social features that would allow Sony to offer a superior (or at the very least, highly competitive) online service to XBL for free.

That's why virtual cash obtained by winning online multiplayer matches would be such a good idea.