Branding Home
by ted2112, HSM team writer
Even if Sony didn’t make a buck from Home, it would still be a smash success.
Home is brilliant. It’s an experience that works on so many levels. It’s a gaming platform — and a good one at that, with over a hundred games and new ones coming out all the time. All of this following the freemium model, so you can choose if you want to dive in deeper and buy or keep it simple and play for free. Home is also a very good social platform that has in many ways transcended its original purpose of “getting gamers together.” It has done that for sure, but it also moved well beyond that and has created an massive virtual community. To confirm that the social aspects of Home are a priority, one simply has to look at all the resources in the game put there just so you can talk to another person.
However, I feel that the biggest way Home is a huge success is the element of connection to this thing called the brand. Brand I feel is more than that thing that makes something instantly reconcilable, but rather a familiar two-way street that runs between a company and us.
To play Home you need a PS3. To get a PS3 you have to buy one, and this is what Sony sells. They are in the market of selling PS3s. The software that runs on the PS3 is kind of like the icing on the cake Sony bakes. I know a few people who have both a PS3 and an Xbox, but most people have one or the other. Each platform has its own identity and fan base. Me, personally? I’m a PlayStation guy. Always have been. I mean, have you seen the Xbox avatars, really? Ah, no thanks, I’ll pass.
To be loyal to a brand is very good for a company, and it’s something the folks at Sony have taken deadly serious for a long time. I bought my PS2 the first day it went on sale, and unfortunately those units has a cheap laser in them that went bad in a few years. What did Sony do? They fixed them free of charge. We didn’t even have to pay for shipping. Sony wants us not just owning a PlayStation, but loving to own a PlayStation. Home plays a very big role in making us love our PS3; it keeps us connected , it gives us a vested interest in the success of all things PlayStation. We are their core clients, their test lab, revenue stream, flag wavers, and when Home migrates to the PS4 someday we will go with it.
The idea of “brand” is starting to become a buzz word. In E3 coverage I think I must have heard that word hundreds of times. Even if Sony doesn’t make money from Home it would still be a overwhelming success for Sony, simply in the fact it has kept its core clients loyal and happily connected to its brand. What Sony knows is that a brand isn’t just about style and stuff that defines it. Brand is also us. Yes, we are the brand, and without you and me the brand has no meaning.
Loving and being connected to a brand can turn even the simplest thing into something awesome. The Boston Red Sox and the Kansas City Royals are both baseball teams. They play by the same rules; play on a field that has the same number bases, and use the same equipment, but the Red Sox are something altogether different. The Red Sox understand brand. The team has an identity that goes back a hundred years and connects in many ways that is larger than the team itself. This is why they are not only hugely popular in the New England area, but worldwide. The biggest Red Sox fan I have ever met has lived his whole life in Phoenix, AZ. That concept of brand transcends just about everything.
There is going to be a PS4. It might not be called that, but time marches on and technology marches right along beside it. We are gamers and demand progress be made, and that bar keep moving skyward. Therefore technology only pauses for a moment to catch its breath, and then keeps on truckin’. The question is, will we move along with it? If done right, the answer is yes. You don’t find many people out there clinging to their PSOne and shunning all other platforms; well, I know this one guy, but that’s a different article. We gamers will move on if we feel like we are part of something. We aren’t going to shell out big bucks just because a company makes a latest, greatest model. It must include us. It must be a journey of natural evolution that we have taken together.
Okay, try this test…Media Molecule.
Did an image of Sackboy pop up in your head? If it did, congratulations, you are a gamer and you understand branding. You know what they are all about and are already up to speed on their next project, and most likely have it pre ordered.
Next test: Home
Did you see the blue Home icon? Did an image of the Hub or the Harbor Studio? Did you see avatars of friends? For some reason I still see 
the old Home tiles that used to drop into place back in the old days.
Brand is not only good for the companies that believe in it, but good for their customers as well. It means they are committed, and in for the long haul. We here in Home are starting to not only see brand from Sony, but from the many Home developers as well. Each of them has their own unique style and brand. I’d like to quote Jack Buser who stated at E3, “Sony is the most powerful game brand in the world.” I agree, and would like to take that further by saying that Home is becoming a very important part of that brand.
July 18th, 2012 by ted2112 | 5 comments
ted2112 is a writer and a Bass player that has been both inspired and takes to heart Kurt Vonnegut words...."we are here on planet Earth to fart around, and don't let anyone tell you different."
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Good read! It’s Media Molecule, btw.
Fixed. Thanks for the catch!
Great read as usual. I own a PS2 and love it. When the PS3 came out I didnt initially purchase it until I found out about Home. I am glad I own it because it is an amazing system with endless possibilities. I find that I have always been brand loyal to Sony thru the years. Now that I have been playing Home, I immediately look at new things that Loot and Lockwood put out. I feel a loyalty to them because they make grat things for Home. I think I failed tne first test, but passed the 2nd test. I cant say I would buy a ps4 right away because I am sure it will cost a lot, but I hope to be able to continue to play Home on my ps3.
Well Rainbow, let’s just hope the new Sony boss doesn’t insist that everyone works double shifts to raise cash for the next PS eh? LOL! It’s ok if you don’t get that, just gamer humor.
Brand loyalty is something that (to me) seem pretty easy to achieve really. In the case of gaming and brands, all you gotta do is keep your audience informed about what’s coming (something Sony isn’t very good at), treat them like people and NOT numbers and basically have a human component. No one likes having to deal with giant, faceless companies because it makes them feel insignificant.
You mentioned Microsoft in your article, and there’s no other company that strikes the baulk reaction in me quite as fast. Some might say that’s coz I’m a Sony fanboi, but the truth is, I’ve hated their business practices since I can remember. They’re devious, they mix figures, give false stats and play dangerous games with other companies because they know their stack of money will protect them in the court rooms when they get caught doing so. Never mind the fact that their first 360 offerings usually turned into melted puddles within months, then they’d have the cheek to CHARGE you for the inconvenience!
I’m not entirely sure why anyone in their right mind would want to side with MS as a company, let alone claim allegiance to them but one thing is clear; once a consumer makes that bond, it’s hard for another company to pries them off of them.
I have been with Sony as a gaming platform since the PS one. I still own my PS2 as the PS3 I have isn’t a backward compatible and I still have a nice collection of the older games I have kept. I think you are very right about how we react to a product we are comfortable with and find to be well made and reliable, no matter its use. I will always be a PlayStation fan because they are the ones who filled my need for RPGs the best and still do. Home is the icing on the cake for me, and I know they will port it over to the PS4 when it arrives. Good read as always Ted.