Although it was a much smaller event than the one in L.A. it was as close as i was going to get in terms of being at E3.

Glad you guys had such a great time!

But as long as Home is on the PS3, I will have access to it. I am never an early adopter. I will wait to get a PS4. So nothing will change for me as far as I can see.

To be clear: I have no idea whether Home will transition to any other platforms besides the PS4. I do know that there are some proposed upcoming features for Home which are very exciting. And as was written in the article, I’m encouraging people to continue to spend time and money in Home, because a fiscally successful vertical has a much greater chance of continuing to be supported than one which shows diminishing returns.

The one thing I would caution against: Home, like most any social MMO, has a power-law distribution “whale” economy. This means that a tremendous amount of the revenue is being generated by a relatively small percentage of the active user base. The catch is that it’s easy to fall into the belief that Home has to be continued because we happen to fall into that whale percentage. The reality is that Home is running on architecture more than half a decade old, doing things it was never originally designed to do. It is frankly remarkable what it’s been able to achieve, and will continue to achieve.

But nothing lasts forever.

There was a time when we all had VHS machines and huge videotape libraries. And when the technology was finally discontinued, what did we do? We moved on to the next order of magnitude — DVD — and in many cases repurchased a lot of the same experiences we enjoyed previously, even though many of those VHS tapes sat and gathered dust.

Game consoles are the same. We amass huge libraries of games which are, for the most part, played through and then left to collect dust for years. Then we buy a new console and start the whole process over again.

The Home consumer is a bit of an anomaly in this regard, because we assume that somehow, for some reason, Home should be treated differently. This is compounded by the fact that there is a percentage of hardcore users who really have invested massive amounts of their lives into this application.

I get that. I’m one of them. There are few people who champion Home as much as I do. And this is presently a very Home-centric publication which caters to fellow Home whales. But I have to admit it concerns me when I see people who go too deep down the rabbit hole, because it means they’re tying too much of their emotional well-being to something which is out of their control.

And that’s why I’m recommending to let go of the hysteria. Not for Sony’s benefit — for your *own.* Home is a wonderful virtual world which does affect and change peoples’ lives, but we must remember that it is ultimately a for-profit business venture and not a social charity. By keeping a healthy perspective, we can actually derive *more* enjoyment out of Home, not less.

I strongly want Home to continue and thrive. And I suspect it will be supported for as long as it’s fiscally justifiable to do so. But if they pulled the plug on it today, no one should be going on suicide watch. That’s unhealthy. But I have little doubt that the Homelings, like other close-knit Home groups — or, far more importantly, the friendships made between the real people behind the avatars — will continue to survive and thrive long after Home has gone to dust. *That* is the true legacy of what Home gave to us.

For now, though? Eat, drink and be merry, for Home is still with us.

As for Home not being on the PS4 well I don’t know that much but it seems to me that if old games will be available in the clouds for purchase then Home could be available also. But what do I know? Not a whole lot. Home will be around until it ain’t and I believe that ain’t is quite a ways down the road as long as the PS3 is supported.

If I get this typing right I’m gonna’ be a programmer.

Really?

Knowing that you work for a leading Home developer I hear you loud and clear. You would know above just about anyone else, other than Jack B., about Home’s future. As far as we Homelings are concerned, letting go of Home is letting go of our existence.

Thanks for the heads up however. Now I know to not spend any more “Loot” in Home.

And we have some phenomenal stuff for the beginning of the end so far; Black Flag, Watchdogs, GTA5 and we can’t ignore the fact that The Last of Us has just taken the title of “Highest Rated Game Ever” of 2013. And there’s plenty more where that came from. The PS3 is FAR from dead, this is when it shines.

As for Home, well look how far it’s come. LMO’s, interactive actives, loads if beautiful and diverse spaces…

Home will have it’s swan-song too, maybe a couple years from now, and I can’t wait to see what that will be. Interactive ballroom dancing for you high-class ladies? Maybe a live then streamed concert with U2? Maybe in a year’s time we’ll have global spaces for global concerts, who knows what the future of Home will see. All I know is that I’ll be there to witness it.

Glad you had fun at E3 Norse, ya jammy git! LOL! Really though,thanks for the write-up.

I did see a lot of talk about the Music Unlimited service that seriously peaked my interest too!