PlayStation Home Asia: Where’s the Content?
by Jayson619, HSM guest contributor
(Editor’s note: As someone who has a PSN Asia (Hong Kong) account, it is nice to see someone contributing a piece on this very little known – and little talked about – corner of the Home world. ~T~)
As a supporter of all things PlayStation, as well as being a regular on PlayStation Home, there are times where I feel like asking the one question many of my Asian peers always ask: when it comes to content, why are we Asians always left out in the cold?
Until this day, no answer given by anyone makes sense to us Asians, who perpetually feel as if we’re the ugly stepchild in the Home universe, with somewhat less than impressive content and events in my region – I live in Singapore; which falls under the Asia region – compared to the other regions, who have far better content, events, as well as public lounges and personal spaces.
Mostly I simply tell myself, “Just be happy we got PlayStation Home,” or after the outage, “Just be happy we can go online again!” and such.
But the atmosphere has since somewhat changed in my region, and I thought it would be be better if I wrote this out for all to read; I’m hoping the developers, as well as the PlayStation Home team and community at-large are reading this.
(NorseNote: It’s worth mentioning at this juncture that each regional Home is more or less a separate business entity.)
You guys may say Japan is part of Asia, but theirs is a different Asia; they’re on their own server with their own events, which is different from the server that caters to the rest of Asia. While our server does fall under the same geographic location as Japan, our region still differs from them with regards to the language barrier, other content and so on.
PlayStation Asia covers a vast area – mainly the southeast part of the continent – serving not just me here in Singapore, but also Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. My region’s main language is English, but there are other languages, like Chinese and Korean, often spoken in our Home as well.
It is understandable if obtaining permissions to sell certain merchandise – due to the more restrictive government regimes of some of the countries – is much more difficult from a time and money perspective. And that it would cost more to obtain these permissions than what the profit margin on a typical micro-transaction would allow is also understandable.
It is also known that there is often the risk of blatant copyright infringement – which happens to a lot in other industries, like automotive and personal accessories – that comes with bringing merchandise to Asia, as some countries, like China, do not recognize such laws as the rest of the world does. And for a small third party developer, that sometimes means the difference between paying the bills or bankruptcy.
But for honest customers like myself, it feels like we’re being punished for a crime we didn’t commit.
While the other regions receive – and continue to get – the “good” stuff, we Asian Home residents are mostly left out, being able to do nothing but drool at what our other region buddies are having and all – exclusive outfits, new items and other really cool stuff. I myself was left to groan and curse at not being able to get my hands on those new Killzone 3 outfits and the London Pub in the PlayStation Home shopping mall, while many of my friends are disappointed at the lack of lounges and events that only the Western regions get to enjoy.
It’s like being a kid again, on the outside looking in, wishing to be a part of the “in” crowd when you know you can’t. Meeting others in public spaces that are hosted on international servers – like the Feva Arena last year and this year’s E3, for example – only make the feelings of resentment grow worse.
I have tried to defend my stance in support of the Asian region, but as time faded, I too began to find my patience failing.
In fact, because of the lack of content, I eventually lost friends from PSN, who could not be content with the “lousy grade treatment” – as quoted by them – our region is currently receiving, and as a result, they do one of two things: create a different account in another region, or forego Home altogether and move on to other entertainment and gaming formats.
What about me, you ask?
I choose to stay within my region, hoping that something good will all come out from it one day. Because if no one supports my region, who will? And what will the other developers think if they keep finding it empty? Would they want to contribute items, spaces and games to a region that is perpetually vacant, or has little to no traffic?
I fear it may change one day if there’s no improvement; the worst case scenario that I really do not wish to see: the plug pulled on Asia PlayStation Home.
As I write this, I’m still grateful that I can finally use PlayStation Home again after the outage. We – along with the US – were amongst the first to get our store up and running, and to receive our Welcome Back program offerings, which really was great. And there are other developers out there like Lockwood Studios, Codeglue and nDreams who are willing to share and/or sell their works to us; I personally am grateful to you guys. But I hope the other developers will do the same, rather than to keep it to their own regions for whatever justifications they may state instead. In short, please help us and support our region as well!
After all, PlayStation Home is – as what some will think I’m crazy to say – my Home!
July 11th, 2011 by Jayson619 | 13 comments
Jayson619 is from Singapore. He does not believe in creating a new account to visit another region's Home and prefers to stay in his region's Home, hoping to keep his region's Home alive by being present there whenever he can. Visit his Facebook's album for a look into Asia's PlayStation Home spanning over 500 pics.
I cannot thank you enough for contributing and sharing this article with us. It was a real pleasure to read!
It’s ironic that you mention your jealousy of the NA region of PS Home compared to that of Asia. I have a HK acct that I use from time to time and I like going to PS Home Asia because one of the nice things about it being less busy is that as a girl, you don’t get harassed by perverts in public spaces like you do in NA. Also, it is ironic that you mention NA has all this content that Asia doesn’t because I have encountered much content that Asia gets before NA. For example, your Irem beach has features not available in NA such as the chapel, the laying out on the towels on the beach and the switching of the scenery to night. Also, I remember when Hudson Gate and the Dolphy personal space was available in Asia and Japan regions months before in NA. There are also clothes that are available in Asia and Japan before NA and some still are exclusive only to Asia and NA. So yes, I am glad to hear that you are still supporting PS Home in your region and hope the content that you want that you see in NA comes to your region soon.
Hudson Gate and the Dolphy personal space was never in my region (as of his writing…).
I don’t know any more than you do what the motivation for the lack of such things in Asia, but I wish the best for all of those who feel this way. You have brought to light a little known fact and I also hope that the powers that be listen to you and do something about this situation. Good read.
Thks Ma’am.
Welcome to HSM! I hope to see more of your insights in future issues. By the way, I visited your lovely city/country many years ago. I hope the lovely old Raffles Hotel is still going strong.
Question: doesn’t Asia Home region have an online magazine like this? Or, if anyone is familiar with Europe Home and Japan Home, I wonder if we are the only one that is worldwide? If so, this opens up some fascinating possibilities for HSM comparing notes about the regions. I was fascinated by tbaby’s remarks about less trolling and harassment in Asia Home. It would be interesting if one of the HSM writers who has access to all the regions would compare the social aspects.
I can confirm tbaby’s remarks about less harassment in Asia Home -- it’s one of the reasons why I created an account there. And most of the time, too, it is pretty quiet. Well, at least it is during the times I have been on.
I have accounts in all regions except for Japan, but I think Aeteritas mentioned he has accounts for all the regions? Will have to ask at the next meeting…
Raffles Hotel still stands, thks. And no (as of now) there’s no similar site like what you’re doing now in Asia.
And yeah, I used to met US players who make accounts to go to Asia Home. They say there’s less perverts. Dunno why but who knows.
I have accounts in all the regions including Japan. There is not the harassment in Asia and Japan that you get in Europe and US. I have found the Japan region very pleasant to visit. The people I have encountered, for the most part, have been very friendly.
I have never visited Home Asia on my own account but friends have let me peek over their shoulders when they visited.
Home Asia always looks pretty empty when I’ve seen it. The countries you listed with access to Home Asia have tremendous potential purchasing power.
Does anyone know if there is a cultural reason more people in Asia don’t visit Home?
It seems to me that having more visitors buying more items would lead Sony to release more spaces and items in Asia.
“PlayStation Asia covers a vast area – mainly the southeast part of the continent – serving not just me here in Singapore, but also Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. My region’s main language is English, but there are other languages, like Chinese and Korean, often spoken in our Home as well.”
Well it looks like Codeglue has heard you in PlayStation Asia: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=236988386321328
I hope to see more from other publishers too….
Even though I have visited the Asia Home region, you have raised many things that I had not considered before. Thank you for the article and your insight into the issue.