Comments on: SCEA Home’s most-downloaded items in December

By: cthulu93

cthulu93 — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 08:43:37 +0000

its a shame that sony seems intent on leaving a large portion of its consumer base in the dark,cold and shivering with pockets full of cash.While the list is half gaming related the other half is made up of items and apartments that r in the social networking realm.It will b a crime against the laws of capitalism if sony totally ignores this very large and very willing 2 spend cash segment of home.Im still not sure y both views cant b fully endorsed by sony,arent there enough ppl working there 2 fully back both views?4 sony 2 put all of its eggs in 1 basket might make sense 4 the short term but if they want ppl 2 stay in home 4 the long haul socially interactive ideas r the way 2 go.This emphasis on short term games makes home seem more like carnival,and 2 many its much much more.Id like 2 c more things that blend both elements,EA poker was the best example i can think of on home that did this well and its a shame its gone,a game that does this the right way will b a cash cow that could b milked 4 months if not years.Which brings me 2 a concern of mine,with all the focus on short term games,Whats going 2 happen 2 home when the ps4s come out?Im hoping everything will transfer over seemlessly,apartments,items,avatar looks,but havent heard anything on that yet.I cant imagine sony would want 2 hamper ps4 sales by making the transfer hard or impossible,but short term games wont b missed as much as my ideal game described above,almost every former EA poker player gets misty eyed thinking about that game.Yes i know about that stuff being saved online,any1 whose had a corrupted hard drive does,but that doesnt mean sony will make it accessable on the new ps4s.If any1 has heard anything about transfering our home stuff 2 the next generation please let us know.

By: Bayern_1867

Bayern_1867 — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 20:30:33 +0000

H. Hills, Amaterasu, Steve, & whale. I also bought the Cabin Boy bundle to unlock dolphins for the Amaterasu. As someone who can only play turn-based games, I wouldn’t have otherwise bought C. B. By the way, I have sailed on fishing boats & cruise ships. Amaterasu is close to those experiences. It is a *great* game & almost certainly will last as my favorite space. Other spaces are merely short-term games.

By: Nos

Nos — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 20:33:20 +0000

Of those 10, have personally purchased one -- a blaster pistol. Ha ha!
Purchases in Home are rare for yours truly. Most purchases are made for clubhouse furnishings and/or avatar enhancements.
Really have little time for games within Home since most Home time is spent doing Homeling things

By: NorseGamer

NorseGamer — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 22:39:19 +0000

Jack Buser, in a recent interview, mentioned that Home’s focus was shifting away from “a social network for gamers” and towards being more of a gaming platform. While on the surface I dislike this — because it’s the social elements that make Home so addictive — I think I figured out why.

For those users who are capable of holding an intelligent conversation, the social elements of Home as they presently exist are enough to keep us coming back. But let’s face it: there’s a vast chunk of the user population that lacks the social skills, tools, enculturation, literacy or world experience to be able to hold a conversation deeper than, say, “Do u have a bf lol”.

So, to keep that rather large chunk of the population not just coming back, but spending money, you’ve got to put the emphasis on games. And the formula is precisely as you described it, Seal.

Virtual commodities are a high-margin business. Whereas a blockbuster movie has about a month to recoup its production and distribution costs (not taking into account DVD sales), a game like Sodium One or Novus Prime can continue to rake in healthy profits for a much longer span of time, even though the biggest grosses are in the first month.

I do hope that 2011 brings some enhancements to the social elements of the Home experience — new emotes, dance moves, etc. — but I’m not holding my breath. Although we *do* have a rather interesting article on this topic, written by a guest contributor, which I’m about to publish in the next week or so.

By: SealWyf

SealWyf — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 18:28:11 +0000

Of the ten, I have purchased five.

I think Sony is finally figuring out the secret to effective Home monetization: create a challenging, interesting game, and make the basic version free. Then offer for-pay DLC to enhance the game experience. Also provide significant unlockable content for successful game-play, some of which can only (or more easily) unlocked by using the purchased content.

One wonders what the actual bottom line is, in terms of profit, from the recent pay-to-play games. I suspect it is significant. Which means we’ll be seeing more offerings like this in 2011. Home is changing from a social network to an arcade.