Why Home Will Be With Us For A Long Time
by ted2112 HSM Team Writer
There seems to be a growing anxiety lately about the future of Home.
Just the other day, I was in the Hub, getting the Ted companion and looking for an alleged secret area below the Hub. Another user recognized me as an HSM writer and asked about the future of Home; was it really ending? They really wanted an answer about whether or not Home would be going to the PS4. After chatting for a while, I shared my personal feelings on why I believe Home will be with us for a long time. This got me thinking about all the doubt and questions people have regarding this, and so I decided to simply spell out my personal feelings about the future of Home. I have no inside information to share, but I feel strongly about a bright future of Home for the following reasons.
Home lives here
1. Home is a server-based game. Home doesn’t live on your PS3; it lives on a server farm somewhere. That little www circle swirly thing in the upper right hand corner of your screen lets you know it is connecting to it. I had an original “fatboy” model and ran out of hard drive space so I upgraded to a new 320 gig slim model, and guess what? After plugging in my new unit, there was all my stuff, waiting for me. Home can exist on just about anything, including any new platform coming down the line, so long as there are resources put into making it available.
2. Server Upgrades. The recent server migration indicates that right now, as we speak, Sony is upgrading the servers that Home runs on. They are methodically making Home a faster, more modern game and end-user experience. Logically, Sony wouldn’t spend the money on this very large project if it was slated to end soon.
Jack Buser
3. Jack Buser. Jack is one of us. Home is his baby. He now holds a prominent role within the Sony Digital Platforms umbrella. Consider that: Sony promoted the SCEA Home director to run its digital platform division. I interpret that as a huge sign of confidence from Sony that Home is run well, and if the end of Home is to be decided, Jack is one of the people who will be deciding this. I really can’t see him pulling the plug on a game he has put so much of his positive energy into, particularly since:
4. Money. Like that old James Brown song: how do you spell love? M-O-N-E-Y. Home is not a subsidized venture; it makes money. Sony is a for-profit, publicly traded company. If you want to be a part owner in Sony, just look for the symbol SNE on the New York Stock Exchange and buy your own piece of Sony. Corporations rarely turn their back on money.
5. The Developers. Despite Bigyama’s recent announcement, more and more developers have come into the Home fold. If there was no future with Home, this simply wouldn’t be happening. These great companies are on the rise, and several of them are hiring right now. You could make a game for the PSone if you wanted to, but why bother? It’s like a record company releasing an album on 8-track cassette. Companies don’t look backwards. If I was the head of a major third-party development studio I wouldn’t be investing in a doomed game, and Home is far from that.
These are just some of the reasons why I feel Home is here for the long haul, but there are nearly thirty-million other reasons: you, me, and the Home community. To put that into perspective, Little Big Planet sold a little over three-million copies, and that was good enough to spawn several sequels. Now, granted, not everyone who signed up for a Home account stuck with it — if Second Life’s active user base versus its registered user base is any indicator, Home’s actual active user base is much smaller — but I’ll wager that it is nonetheless a very healthy number.
Live in the moment, and remember to have fun!
Call it the Buddhist in me, but I feel we sometimes look at things wrong. Home will end someday — just like the not-yet-released PS4 will end some day. Everything has a beginning and an end; it is fruitless to worry about the end of things, because all things have one. Instead we should focus on the here and now and enjoy Home each and every time we play, because this is a truly amazing game.
I’m sure we can all look at our lives and see something we wish we enjoyed more while we had it, so we should try to not make Home another one of those wistful regrets.
Life seldom gives you all the answers up front; it is a mystery that should be enjoyed. Maybe that’s why we are gamers. We like to be thrown in the middle of a big unknown. So don’t panic. I feel Home is here with us for a long time to come.
July 24th, 2012 by ted2112 | 11 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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One thing I’m confused on is the BIGYAMA announcement, what announcement is this?
Aloha, Steve:
Bigyama recently announced that they will be shifting some of their development resources to the Vita, at the expense of their Home endeavors. You can find the announcement here: http://bigyama.net/blog/new-project-update/
To me, this is a logical move. Bigyama’s a brand-new developer, and it’s very challenging to crack into a market as established as Home now is. Conversely, the Vita is a brand-new platform that’s desperate for content, which means it’s a golden opportunity for a developer who can build games for it and get in early.
While I personally like Bigyama content — they had something really interesting with the Forthstar concept, and their furniture bundle was quite lovely — from a business standpoint, this was the right move for them. I do certainly hope they choose to revisit Home down the road, as they indicated they would, after they’ve built up greater resources from their Vita endeavors.
Yeah I am really bummed out about it two Norse. I loved the way they put together their furniture content… I think that the timing of the release did not help them. If they had released their package earlier in the summer when nothing else was going on it would have garnered a lot more notice. I really enjoyed the marketing article you wrote on that very subject. It is sad, but I company must go where it sees an opportunity to survive. I personally hope that they are successful with Vita and find their way back into the Home market eventually.
Wow Ted…that was a great peice. Well thought out and clear. I appreciate the way you laid things out. I agree. I don’t think that Home is going anywhere soon, or later, too much interest. I would write more,but you said it all. FEMA will be quiet now…LOL
Lots of good points here Ted and I agree fully, Home is here for the long haul. There is another factor that feeds into this as well, promoting customer satisfaction and loyalty. If Sony pulled the plug on Home there would be a lot of angry ex-customers who have spent a great deal of time, money and effort in this environment. Just like they realized that pulling the plug on Dragons Green would cost them as it had a life time buy in, they know what side of the bread their butter is on. Good read!
Great article and i agree with all your points. I will admit I have been nervous about Home only being available on the PS4 once it comes out. I guess because it is an unknown at this time, I worry but because you say its on a server, I hope I worry for nothing. Its apparent you have thought all this out and after reading all this, I feel Home will be around for a long time. I am sure if Sony decided to end it, there would be very angry people to deal with especially since a lot of Home users have invested a lot of time and money in the game.
Thanks, I missed that! Too bad, was really looking forward to their Home endevors. But better now than after bringing a space and letting it fall apart like conspiracy! 8/ Thanks much for he info! and a very nice article Ted! I hope to be grandpa in my rocker getting Home goodies! XD
Nice work Ted. I guess it needed to be said.
I’ve never thought Home was a one console deal… but I DO wonder if it will be the same Home we have now or if it will be a new Home. The safe bet is that Home will just continue and grow onto the next generation of PlayStation hardware.
I think it will Gid, but I got a hunch it’s gonna do more than just be available for the PS4. I think they’ll keep its engine pretty much as is since (really) its graphics are fine. I doubt they’ll pull it completely just because the PS4 can give avatars even more individual strands of hair. No, instead I see a portable Home on the Vita, a place we can chat, shop and jump into mini-games while on the move; but more importiantly cross over from one machine to the next. Carrying on your Home session via the Vita on the train to work, or just to do a bit of virtual shopping for your avatar in your lunch break, etc.
They’re STILL selling PS2s. They haven’t stopped because the PS3 was “better”, they know there are those who can’t afford a PS3, or even, that there are still people out there with a massive PS2 game collection that refuse to buy AGAIN in a digital format, the chooses are there and either way, Sony’s pockets smile about it. Same will happen with Home, that way Sony can reach anyone with a PS3, 4 or Vita and ALL will be transferable, or should I say accessible, from any of these machines.
You went a little deep there too Ted, what with the whimsical reflections of living for the time we have in the here and now, which speaks to me right now. And you’re right, we look too far into the future too often, then try to dissect and predict it far too often (see statements above). So let’s just sit down for a bit, and smell the virtual roses.
All I know is I really do not want to be Home-less. I have met some awesome people here. I’ve been able to stretch my creative self decorating spaces and my avatar. Best of all, Home has allowed me to discover my inner writer, so I certainly hope Sony has no plans to delete my muse anytime soon.
Wonderful article O wise Bodhisattva. I have said before that I do not attach myself to either the place or the purchases… the important thing to me is the other souls that I encounter. Anyway -- according to Siddhartha’s Vision attachments are not the path to enlightenment. Certainly fear and frenzy do very little to help any cause. I am certain that the friends I have met in this space will continue on with some other means of communication long after this system is archaic.
In the meantime there are always HOME’s Epicurean delights.
Namaste