Unhappy at Home?
(Editor’s foreword: this article eloquently deals with an emotionally-charged subject — the growing communal sense of neglect about Home from SCEA. It is a topic worthy of discussion, but we will not allow the comments section to degenerate into an anti-Sony hate-filled rantfest. Inflammatory comments or excessive hyperbole will be deleted without warning, and your capability to comment may end up restricted should this warning go unheeded. Think Firing Line, not Jerry Springer, when you write your response.)
by Phoenix, HSM filmmaker
Excerpted from an article written in 2009:
Speaking at the London Games Conference yesterday, Sony’s director of PlayStation Home in Europe said the virtual world accrues users who spend money and stick around for long stretches, but Home is nonetheless “not a priority right now.”
“It’s been a long road,” Pete Edwards said, according to Edge Online. ” We’ve proved there is a market out there and we’ve got a lot of people that spend a lot of time in [Home]. It’s not a priority right now but there is a business model there.”
Edge Online noted that Edwards himself said European users spent an average of 56 minutes in Home per session. So it’s not like Sony’s shelving or shutting down Home; he’s just saying that investing further in its business model is not part of the strategy right now. Still, publicly deprioritizing PlayStation Home speaks loudly enough about how Sony feels about this project a year later.
It made me wonder, however, what Sony thinks of Home and its users, particularly now that we’re into 2013. If Sony had felt Home was not a priority four years ago, could it be the same for us now? And yet Home still exists, and still has resources committed to it as a platform. So what exactly does it mean to say it’s not a priority? Does it mean that bugs, lags, freezing and games that don’t work were not a priority and would be taken care of when they got to it, or would it mean something else? Perhaps handling the security of their infrastructure? All these things have been addressed (and continue to be addressed) over time, but would they have been addressed faster if Home was a more profitable — and thus high-profile — venture?
The article seems to imply Home was of little importance in the grand scheme of things, and was just a market model. Is it just another way for Sony to make money, regardless of quality of product? Is Home just a cash cow? Is Home an experiment for a better business plan? And what would that plan be? My biggest question is this: would it be good business to say a publicly state that a product of yours that sees millions of users, and receives constant revenue, is less important then another branch of your business?
I have friends in Home across all regions; they have been here for years, spending considerable time and money. When I read this I felt as if it was a slap in the face to those here at the start, even though it was before my time in Home. To be fair, though, it didn’t seem to hurt the number of users in Home through the years, and like any social freemium game, most of the revenue is being driven by a very small percentage of the overall user base.
I am not saying that Sony owes us for being in Home, or spending our money here; that is our choice. Some Home users seem to think the opposite. They seem to forget Home is free, other than your internet connection and whatever you choose to purchase. But it is nonetheless surprising to read such a tone of benevolent neglect about Home from Sony. You get the sense, contextually, that Home is just profitable enough to justify keeping the lights on, but not worth risking any resources to try to deepen that profitability.
Granted, the Catch-22 is that without risking that cost to improve Home’s core functionality, the small percentage of users who do monetize — and who actively want a more engrossing Home experience — have little incentive to continue their commitment to the platform. And so the margins shrink.
I ask, though: is Home simply a trial model for a better business plan? Yes, probably. No one’s ever tried a console-based social network for gamers before, and Home still has that beta tag on it.
Has that plan been realized, half a decade later? I would assume so. There does come a point where there’s only so much you can do with core architecture and code that’s this old.
Are we still simply protozoa in a petri dish of Home? Somewhat, yes. But the big question is this: are we being studied, as consumers, for a better Home?
I would again say yes.
Have we become so happy and content, that we have a world that we can design to an extent, to our own liking, that we assume it was created for that very same happiness? Yes.
Some of us forget Home is a game. It is a highly interactive game, but a game none the least. We in Home come here to play. Whether we play alone or not doesn’t matter; it’s not a real world. It’s a world Sony built with the help of third-party developers over the years for people to socialize and play. Home was, if we remember, originally designed as a hub for gamers to meet and wait for game matches and such; today, by contrast, it is a self-contained world with its own dedicated user base, feeling at times largely disconnected from the rest of the PlayStation world it was originally designed to promote. It turned into this because, quite obviously, that’s what Home users were willing to spend money on.
Recently I asked, as did others: what would we do if Sony ended Home?
I am not so foolish or naïve to think that Sony would cry or lose a bit of sleep if we, any of us, left Home. Yes, it would mean a drop in revenue for them if everyone left. It would, however, not substantially hurt a company like Sony. Still, what Sony has not addressed with Home — at least in the SCEA region — is how much benevolent neglect they can get away with before it begins to hurt the bottom line.
Lets face the facts: to the people who use Home consistently, it is something we’ve formed an emotional attachment to. But to Sony, it’s ultimately one more product and service on a spreadsheet.
Some might say it matters little how Sony feels about Home, so long as they keep the lights on; but I think it does matter what Sony feels and thinks about Home. I for one think it matters what the parent of a child thinks of its child, so to speak. I think too that the way a company feels about its product determines the quality of that product. If some heads at Sony feel Home is just a game, or even a place where complaints and whining go on, then Home will be less important to them now and in future. I’ve heard whispers that Sony cares little about Home; that it is the third-party developers who are driven to innovate, while Sony collects management fees. I would be inclined to believe these whispers, but I think of how Sony worked to restore Home after the Great PSN Outage, and the ongoing core updates which still place. Case in point: Home 1.75, which is supposed to be for the safety of Home users’ saved data and to put an end to the other unsavory behavior plaguing Home.
A platform provider for a social MMO does have a fiscal responsibility — not to its consumers, but ultimately to its own profit margins — to overtly demonstrate that it’s committed to growing and deepening the experience it’s enticing consumers to enjoy. If a world begins to feel stagnant, then the consumer inevitably starts to wonder why they’re still there. And this is perhaps a lesson which SCEA has not yet learnt. After all — and yes, this is a harsh question, but the obvious must be pointed out — how many people in Foster City who are responsible for Home have any previous background whatsoever in developing a long-term social MMO application and business model?
Hey, it’s a fair question. It’s just a shame that we’re at a point with Home where we feel like it should be asked.
Given the constant work in updates alone and the hassle of hackers, freezers and crashes to Home, I can see how it could get to be a headache for Sony to keep it going sometimes. Add the constant complaining to the equation, regarding functionality problems with Home…well, I just wonder what Sony thinks of Home. Home 1.75 seems to suggest that Sony cares enough about Home to make it available as the next console generation unfolds, but there seems to be relatively little overt commitment to actually deepening the experience and emotionally engaging the user base to want to continue with it.
Home has been remade into a gaming platform, yes, but it is still a social MMO experience, and what Sony may have overlooked is that a social MMO consumer’s motives to monetize are not the same as a traditional video game consumer. Though they do overlap, a social MMO consumer is motivated to monetize if they feel they’re a part of a living, breathing, growing world. And Home, in this regard, falls woefully short — which in turn hurts the profitability of the developers creating content for the platform, which ultimately hurts Sony’s bottom line, which further diminishes the resources committed to Home…it’s a downward austerity spiral.
But back to my original question: is it good business to publicly re-prioritize a product? Imagine if those comments were made by Sony today, instead of in 2009? How would we, the users, feel if it happened?
February 5th, 2013 by Phoenix | 10 comments
Phoenix writes poetry and is a photography enthusiast, along with writing for HomeStation Magazine. She is currently studying for a BFA in Creative Writing and BA with concentration in Photography. psn ID phoenixstorm21
youtube.com/user/phoenixstorm21
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This is such a good read, that i will need some time to get this all in my head.. I do know that as a European i prefer the USA Home. And this is because i`ve always felt ignored on EU HOME on a fundamental scale by Sony. This also shows in the amount of spaces and things to do on the EU HOME. I`ve been around since the closed beta,and once i`d discoverd USA Home a 2nd world has opend before my eyes. And here is i think where the main problem lies..There are to many regions of home. to much to uphold while most of those Home regions are highly unpopulated..This is why i think most of the English speaking people on EU and even Asia come seek their fun on the USA server. So if Sony would re-prioritise this product. i would certainly hope that they would build 1 server for us all. This would seem more profitable for them and the other companies that use Home. I don`t see and never have seen Home as a gaming platform. but only as a extensive social media like Facebook. Only much beter ofcourse.Because it can get more personal. here u can meet people make new friends. show and share pictures. invite someone to your space and watch a movie together and yes even play a game. I believe there is so much more to Home then just a gaming/socialising platform. I`ve seen people grow onhere.Discover hidden aspects of themselfs and potential.Suddenly becoming creative with writing,making video`s,draw comics. And wow, i`m gonna stop writing now
before it all becomes to incomprehensive. It just shows how much i have to thank for on Home. I met some of my best friends onhere,Closer then family even. And i wish Sony would have some form of understanding in this.Because it is an experience i would like to see granted to others aswell.
Not long before the last major makeover Home management was trying to lure developers by telling them that the fastest way to get games onto the PSN was to develop for Home, since then there have been a few new arrivals on the Dev side who have produced great content such as Digital Leisure and Juggernaut games but none of them outside of Japan have produced any games that are slated to hit the PSN as of yet. It made it seem as if they though of Home only as a transitioning point to a higher goal which made me question back then what Sony had as far as a commitment to Home’s future. BIGYAMA had only 2 releases and lots of promise before they pulled out for other gaming ventures and that was quite shocking to me as I was excited by what they had proposed as far as the experiences they were going to bring. I question weather it’s the lack of interested developers or Sony’s need for PSN growth to keep the platform valid as well as lucrative that keeps Home from realizing it’s potential, it’s obvious that the user base has grown and the profits have as well but is it enough to keep Home going on to the next console? If not i won’t be buying another new one in the future.
“Home is just a game” -- This is a statement that truly bugs me. Cutthroats is a game, Mercia is a game, Tycoon is a game -- Home itself is NOT a game. Those things wandering around in front of you are not just cannon fodder or NPCs without awareness, they are people, each and every one and they have a mind and a heart under those pixels. Calling Home a game is where the trolling and the problems begin. Sorry, no offence to you Phoenix, but it really gets my goat when even we the users can’t understand the humanity under the pixels. It’s a difficult concept for some, but I’m off on another tangent again…
Like Dutch above me here, I too moved to US Home when it became apparent that law restriction of amalgamated countries and general lack of trying from SCEE would mean our Home (my EU Home) would never get to reach the technical possibilities of the US. I’m talking about music, film and visual media.
Damn, is that the time!? In the words of that robot dude with muscles: I’ll BE BACK….
Any business that doesnt really release any numbers is unsure how they will be taken. The few numbers we get tend to say the users numbers are not great world wide and no where near the millions of users that some people believe.
One Piece Pirate Musou is a game on PS3 it sold a million copies in a year which means it got 1 million unique users in a year, which is the same as Aurora and the casino they had 1 million unique users in a year as well.
But heres the bit where the info becomes corrupted does 1 million unique visitors included multi account users on home.
If it does 1 million unique users minus multiple accounts is not good at all. Then add in the game got to 1 million units in 3 months and didnt take much after that and it only really sold in Japan. Where Aurora is world wide and Casino is in the 2 biggest regions for world coverage.
All the massive developers havent really got involved in home, Most of the smaller developers are making money else where, commissioned by Sony to develop on home as per several Japanese spaces or part of the Sony group. For developers which can go out of business very quickly its about making money quickly, It looks like the bigger ones cant make enough and the smaller ones need to branch out to make enough.
Sony and the developers are putting a lot of effort into trying to make home into a success but the I would say looking at the limited numbers of users, issues with hacking and crashing, constant maintenance, the neglect of public spaces by they developers because of money reasons, this includes developers that are still active in home. I can imagine theres a lot of arguments in a Sony board room some where discussing whether home is worth the hassle. Home is such a passionate debate for its users, where we want everything to be right first time and Sony to spend millions on making it great. Unfortunate for a company to spend millions it has to make millions. And by going on what numbers we do know, I dont think in reality theres the amount of users required or profit generated for Home to meet its users expectations.
Gary, you might be right. The lack of figure boasting from Sony’s end regarding Home is quite a worry. But if it really was that much of a dead weight for Sony I’d imagine they’d have pulled the plug a long time ago, certainly not have made the core updates to better the experience. Maybe it’s the other way around? Maybe they’re withholding figures coz they don’t want their competitors to see how well it’s doing and jump on the bandwagon? I have no idea if that’s legal behavior for a company or not though.
As I was saying before, as an EU customer I just got bored of waiting for EU Home to get to the point where I could use Home as a way of displaying some of my art by utilizing the picture frames,or just listen to music in some fashion and even chill with some friends while watchin’ stuff on the box. EU Home is still so far behind the curve in this regard it’s not even funny anymore. EOD over there is shonky at best, and has about half the content of its US counterpart. I’m not blaming Sony for this, or even LOOT themselves, the problem lies with the fact EU Home is such a weird ball of countries (some that are not even IN the EU) that the laws halt Home’s progress in this regard entirely.
The idea of feeling “uncared for” as a customer of Sony and a user of Home is there, for sure, but I’m not naive enough to think it’s just because they really don’t care. I know, again, that the real problem comes from Home’s fractured state as part of Sony. There is no dedicated Home customer care line, because all we “buy” is really only a rent. And all we see in Home is largely made by people who’s closest relationship with Sony is having to pay them lip-service for being in Home in the first place. Home it seems, has no owner, and because of this there is no one to turn to when we the customer have a problem with something within its walls. People like Digital Leisure are changing that ideal, by simply having a presence in official forums and by responding to emails which is commendable, but I think what we need is a dedicated Home office where the customer can voice concerns, ask for refunds and get general information as need be.
Anyways, I’m gonna stop now coz you’ve opened a massive floodgate here Pheonix -- a true indication of a well-made article. Well done!
Excellent article.
Home is an experiment or learning experience to both SONY and users. What becomes of it only time will tell.
For the most part to me it’s a success. Oh sure, we have to wait forever for things to be fixed sometimes (or so it seems). And some things that bother me such as the non-functioning scoreboard at Gnome Curling and the 50 mission mess at F.U.B.A.R (appropriately named?) are downright disheartening. It makes me wonder at times how many of the devs really care. Some do, there’s no doubt in my mind about that. Probably most of them. However, it seems like some take the money and run or perhaps move on to bigger and better things.
As to hacking, every few days it seems there’s a news article about hackers going into government, corporate and private sites so whatever happens as to hacking with SONY’s Home doesn’t surprise me at all. And it’s something they can learn from.
I have no problem with SONY not making Home the priority. They have other things of more importance financially. Considering their monetary problems, I think they do what they can. If they let go more people or sell more buildings then Home might be put on the chopping block.
We’ll be around for quite some time in my opinion. I just wish they would prioritize their broken games, that’s what I wish. Prioritize what’s broke before they’re fouled up beyond all repair. I’m tired of complaining and waiting.
Dang……this is seriously an incredible article!
I never really thought from this perspective a bit on how the developers have made promises. Like, I KNEW the company made some unsung promises, but I was one of those who morally accepted what Home was.
However, I believe that Sony were ahead of themselves in some aspects that they didn’t realize what they were saying until it was too late. I’m not too sure on my statement here because I just don’t speak on their behalf, aside from the research and what’s surmised from the author of this article.
I believe there needs to be a line of communication with the customers and Home. Just because that one guy stated that “Home is a game” doesn’t make it a game.
My eyes just been open a bit more on this and I realize that I have to consolidate my approach. It doesn’t mean I dislike Sony; they fulfilled MANY many promises on their console.
But Home needs to be taken a bit serious and not just some cash cow, as everyone seem to put it.
Cash is vanity, profit is sanity, how many sales does it take to make home item, game or space profitable. The problem could be home takes money breaks even profit wise or makes a small profit when all the overheads are taken out. Home probably has enough users and a tight community to do enough damage to Sony sales figures. Xbox unit sales of marque games like COD are generally 25% higher than ps3, so Sony probably doesnt want to upset users. But they probably cant spend much more on customer services, Mods, development, severs etc due to profit margins. No one can tell home in Asia is making money, it has hardly any events, it has to give away credit for psn to get users to go on it, most of its users seem to be from different regions. I believe anything that they would try to do to make more money would meet with disapproval and lose users, so as an example say they had home plus which had a fee each month for member only deals or functions. It would probably cause an uproar. But if I knew by paying that fee we would get a better home id probably pay it. Or if I knew the fee guaranteed the future of home again id probably pay it. But lack of info leads to rumor or opinions that could be completely right or wrong, but also leads to uncertainty, so as the debate goes on whether home will be on ps4, the users will get more and more paranoid over spending just incase they lose everything.
A company the size of Sony can’t have all their projects on top priority. So if Home didn’t met the objectives it’s normal they “downgraded” it’s priority. That, I can live with.
Part of the problem in my opinion, is they see Home like you do. Just another game. Thing is you don’t manage a community (or MMO) the same way you will do for other kinds of “faceless” products. The more time I’ve spent on Home the more I’ve felt like in a near future/apocalyptic movies where the state/city is own by private company. Now, I understand it is a “private world”. But when I feel it, theres a problem.
I can live with low priority. I can live with being use as paying playtester. I cannot support absence of customer services. Wich is the business model Home is base on.
Home has evolved quite a bit since its inception. Initially, it was envisioned as a new marketing platform and the hub of the PlayStation 3 gaming experience. That proved impossible to monetize…note that Nintendo adopted this approach with their Miiverse, and they’re not even attempting to monetize it. Instead, they see it as a social media forum for sharing information about their games, or a form of low-cost marketing. We’ll see how long that lasts.
Home now is a bit like Google Labs for the next generation of social gaming platforms. Sony and its developers are testing everything from game genres to payment models to customer service, and everyone’s trying to figure out what works. This is completely uncharted territory for companies that are used to reviewing massive amounts of data before they make a decision. It’s exciting to see, but at the same time it’s a 50/50 proposition as to whether or not they’ll get something right, whether it’s the price of a T-shirt or the number of levels on a game.
It’s easy for people to Monday-morning quarterback those mistakes, usually with the refrain of, “Why not do it like it’s been done before?” or “Why not do it like everyone else does?” Certainly I’ve been as guilty of that as anyone, mainly because I believe you don’t throw out good business rules just because you’re on a new platform. At the same time, however, I understand and appreciate that these devs and Sony are taking the risks. They do it because they can, and some amazing things have happened along the way.
The only comparison anyone in this space can make right now is Zynga, and we’ve all seen how that turned out. Home’s developers are trying a lot of very non-Zynga things to find a business model that works, and some have been good. As time goes by, we’ll see more good and, inevitably, more bad that makes us howl.
Home may not be an internal priority on the same level as the PS4, generating first-party titles that sell millions of copies or keeping the PlayStation Store up to date, but that doesn’t mean its not important. Home is part of the future of online gaming, and something that Digital Platforms may someday expand to other devices. It may go through another evolution or two before that point, or it may just contribute some elements to whatever cross-device gaming platform emerges, but it will certainly be a fun ride.
As Home users, we’re all early adopters on the bleeding edge of new gaming ideas and business models. Every compliment and criticism helps to shape what the future will look like, as do our purchases. Despite the inevitable flaws, we should enjoy this while it lasts, because we’re in the labs with new ideas that we’ll see a lot more of somewhere down the road.