The PlayStation 4: A Homeless Future?
The PlayStation 4.
The new PS4, by home console gaming standards, is a very powerful machine indeed. It would seem Sony might just have all their ducks in a row this go ’round. Of course, there are the questions which have inevitably arisen, mostly to do with the lack of backwards compatibility and the lack of PlayStation Home.
Honestly…deal with it.
You know the answer already. The PlayStation 4’s architecture is vastly different than that of the PS3, and chances are that the solution to the backwards compatibility issue may come via Gaikai. Whether or not Home is included in that plan is unknown, but let’s face it: for as much as we are all fond of Home, it’s a redheaded stepchild in the Sony pantheon that takes a significant amount of resources to maintain. And, candidly, it seems that the PS4’s new Share feature essentially eliminates the entire need for Home as it was originally envisioned. So it will last on the PS3 for as long as people keep spending money on it in sufficient quantities to justify its existence, and that’s that.
Sony’s ultimate pay-to-win victory: Blu Ray.
There’s a lot at stake with this console generation. Indeed, it may be the last true console generation we ever see. Sony’s hubris has sometimes bitten them hard in the ass — the failure of Betamax (a superior format) versus VHS, their bought-and-paid-for “victory” of Blu-Ray over HD-DVD, and Ken Kutaragi’s pipe dream of having everyone in the world adopt Cell architecture. The length of the previous console generation was such that mobile and casual gaming took a giant chunk of market share away, and there is more than a little evidence that gamers are looking for more than just photorealistic graphics now. So this is make-or-break time.
Not building a machine that is backward-compatible with the PS3 on day one IS better business practice in this case. At some point the umbilical cord has to be cut anyway, by consumer and developer alike, and putting in the hardware (or software emulation) for PS3 just isn’t economically feasible. Going with x86 architecture and off-the-shelf components is smart! Instead of going head-to-head with the burgeoning indie scene, make them part of the fold by luring them in with the brand and install base. Because, in the end, without development for a system, it doesn’t matter how powerful a system is: no one’s gonna use it. It ain’t about the hardware — it’s about the software.
As for Home…
Sure, it’s easy to feel left behind if you’re a die-hard Home user (which I am, which you are, which most of the people reading this will likely turn out to be). But let’s put things in perspective: hardcore Home users — the actual whales, not those who posed as such until daddy cut off the credit card — may be somewhat atypical gamers, attracted to this one application because of how unique the experience is. But even if they aren’t — even if a Home user is a mainstream PlayStation consumer as well — the fact remains that Sony as the platform provider is not obligated to continue a service filled with a vast majority of people who don’t spend a dime just because a small percentage has spent hundreds of dollars (or, in some cases, yes, even thousands) apiece on it.
We spent our money, and we were given experiences in return for that money. Experiences which may last hours, days, weeks, months or even years. Transaction closed.
The lack of Home on the PS4 is hardly an impending death sentence. With an install base of 80,000,000 consoles (superior to the XBox 360’s numbers, I might add), the PS3 has a huge ongoing consumer base that will continue to thrive for years, just as the PS2 was supported well into the PS3’s lifespan. Will Home be supported up to the very end of the PS3, though?
Well, that’s up to you.
Social game economies like Home follow power law distributions. Adjust your thinking.
It’s up to all of us. Specifically, it’s up to our spending habits. Will the whale economy continue to economically justify Home’s existence? Because ultimately that’s what this comes down to. Yes, you can argue that Home would be more successful if more feature requests were implemented via more core updates, but large-scale investment on core functionality overhaul for an aging platform that’s already resource-intensive is a hard case to economically justify. If anything, we really ought to knock it off with the entitlement attitude and be grateful that Sony continues to support Home at all.
All things must come to an end. Home’s been around for more than five years. We lived through its golden age. But, to paraphrase Arthur C. Clarke, gold is also the color of autumn. And perhaps we are now in late autumn, with the first chills of portending winter blowing through the air. But winter can also be a time of tremendous festivity, and I intend to make my personal Home experience a joyous one, for as long as it remains. Just as your PSOne eventually surrendered its place in your living room to your PS2, which inevitably fell to the PS3, so must the final act of the story of the PS3 now be written as the PS4 emerges.
Home is a part of that final act, and for this I am grateful.
November 17th, 2013 by Godzprototype | 4 comments
Godzprototype is learning the art of creating Machinima, and would like to share it with you. Hope you enjoy.
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Well said Godz. Logical, and true. But I think we both know there’s very little logic in the spoiled masses that use such programs as Home, so regardless of this well written article full of common-sense points, expect whining and crying regardless.
As a gamer first before a social media junkie, I’m rather happy in my little GTAO rut right now and if R* continue to add content into its world for the next few years, I have all I need in their world right now. The challenges system that’s been introduced to Home has been enough to make me abandon my game each morning however and this speaks for itself I think. If they can implement this even deeper into the world of Home there will never be a reason for me to fully abandon Home, even if all my friends have left for PS4, Home could still lure me in with the idea of a leveling system; as long as it’s compelling. Of course Home wouldn’t ever be the same without friends, but this could hold me.
I’ve said this before but it’s looking truer than ever now; Home may just be the very thing that keeps the PS3 alive long after its 10-year-plan has passed.
The majority seem to be of the opinion that once a successor to any technology is publicly available it means death for its counterpart; this just isn’t true in my opinion. The PS3, its games and (vicariously) Home, are not dead. In fact, if 20 years of console gaming has taught me anything it’s that the best for Home is yet to come. But (and this is a biggie) it all hinges on product support. If the nay-sayers and doom-mongers get their way, Home will die soon from neglect and ironically, fear of abandonment.
The people that will moan generally will moan if home stays or goes, usually saying how much they spent on home and how can sony do this. But ultimately when any console comes to the end of its life you always lose money on the console, the obsolete games and the obsolete accessories. Paying out on home has probably stopped me buying a mediocre game or an over complicated accessory and game to fill that void. Currently though im seeing and hearing that theres a lot of heavy spenders on home that arent spending as much as they used to, some because they expect to be playing a ps4 sooner rather than later, some because no one with any real knowledge has said anything on homes future and some this is where im at currently, the newest content really isnt anything better than ive already got. Ultimately I couldnt care whether home is on ps4 or not as I wouldnt miss all the rubbish that surrounds home, but I will miss those little moments on Home that you cant do anywhere else But I miss stuff I could do on other games and consoles as well. So really its all about the memories and making them good whether it be on home, cod, gta or fifa on a ps3 or elder scrolls online, drive club or watch dogs on a ps4
First of all, why would Sony, or the Home community, even want Home in its current form on the PS4? Are we really that in love with PS2 era graphics, slow-moving loading screens everywhere and a 100-item furniture limit? Home is great for what it is, but the PS4 is a new playground, and if there’s going to be something Home-esque on it, it needs to be a lot better than what we currently have.
And there should be something like Home on the PS4, because it’s a formula that’s proven itself to monetize more effectively than other freemium formats. We haven’t seen the end of game-focused virtual communities, because Home has proven the model is viable. Whether Sony develops the next version or another developer picks up the mantle (Lockwood or Granzella, perhaps) there is going to be a Home-like service somewhere.
GTA V and Final Fantasy will never completely supplant home, because ultimately their worlds are defined by the boundaries of their game engines. That means there are lots of different ways to expand on GTA V, and maybe even let people furnish their apartments, but you’ll never see a Winter Vacation Villa or Frogger machine in there. You won’t be playing games like Novus Prime or creating dance lines on Vinewood Boulevard.
Some people can get completely immersed in a games’s online world, but the biggest advantage of Home is that it isn’t one world. It’s a whole series of worlds that users can connect and merge in any manner that they like. That freedom is what keeps Home viable and vital, and it’s something that no other online game can match. We should be wondering where that type of experience is on the PS4, instead of worrying about whether Home will be there.
Couldn’t agree more, homes only boundary is the console, the internet and the worst thing is the PSN / Home servers. But there’s home users that can’t face losing it because it fills some void in they real lives. No one should be that reliant on anything virtual.