Why Should Sony Keep Home Alive?
by Burbie52, HSM team writer
There is so much speculation in Home right now about its future: people are either naysayers who believe it is a lost cause, or they are hopefully optimistic that Sony will see the light and keep their beloved Home alive indefinitely. Of course, no one truly knows the future of Home yet, but there are many reasons why I believe that if Sony has decided to end this social experiment of over five years, they have made a bad choice.
When Sony created Home they had no idea whether it would fly or flap a few times and plummet to the ground. It was a big gamble, an expensive gamble, and one that actually paid off, as all evidence we do have suggests that it is profitable. How profitable, no one knows exactly — but it has been enough to keep it riding high for five years already. Quite an accomplishment for a completely new idea. Home stands alone as the only console-based social MMO on the planet; though other consoles have tried to create social gaming connections through their own versions, none comes close to comparing with Home.
That being said, why would Sony decide to throw away a money-making enterprise that they spent an immeasurable amount of time, energy and cashflow on? Home can be a royal pain at times, I am sure; they have to deal with incident reports from thousands of users and spend money paying employees to deal with them by reading and dealing with the perpetrators. But for all of the bad, it has also done a world of good for so many people.
When Home was created they didn’t know how much it would impact peoples’ lives — but it has done just that. If Home was to end one day, thousands of people would lose the one place they can have a social life. Many count on Home as the only social life they have: some because of illnesses, be they physical or mental, others because they are in isolated living conditions for some reason. I wrote an article on the huge impact that Home had for autistic people, many of whom have learned a great deal about themselves and had friends for the first time in their lives. Home has helped innumerable people deal with a myriad of disabilities; many people on my friends list have these types of issues. The front page of our first magazine issue was all about Jersquall and his love of Home for all it has given him over the years, including the freedom of movement.
Too hard to quantify something so emotional as that last paragraph? Fine. Let’s put on our business suits.
This magazine has covered many of the reasons why Home should continue to grow and produce new products. Home has been the launching pad for many new development companies, and has benefited several others. Companies like Lockwood, Hellfire, Juggernaut, Game Mechanics, and even Sony’s own LOOT have realized a significant portion of their earnings from Home. Even though many of these companies are now moving outside of Home with new projects, they still love their roots; they still know where they came from and want to continue to produce for all of us — because it’s profitable.
It seems that the naysayers want Home to close. Their attitude certainly isn’t helping matters, that is for sure. Put yourself in the shoes of a developer in Home: you love Home, you have put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into the project for years, and yet now because of lack of confidence in the project you are losing money instead of earning it. What would motivate you to 
continue down this path of destruction? Sure, they want it to continue like many of us, but they are still a business, and all businesses have to earn a profit. Or they die. Or leave.
If you and I stop supporting Home en masse, so will Sony; and that will be the end of it. That is a plain fact.
The question is, should it be? Has this social experiment reached its peak? Should it go quietly into that good night or should it struggle to survive amid all of the derision and lack of interest that is seemingly out there right now?
When it comes down to it, the choice is truly ours to make. We have the power in our hands to push Home into the next generation or let it languish until it dies when the PS3 ends, though that will still be a long ways off.
I am hoping it is the latter, but even I and my optimistic attitude are taking a beating right now. If Sony would throw us a crumb — something — it might help, but I doubt that will happen. We have to stand on our own this time and each of us decide what we will do in this dilemma.
I will continue to support Home and the developers within. What will you do?
March 26th, 2014 by Burbie52 | 2 comments
Burbie52 is a 62 year-old published author and founder of the Grey Gamers group within Home. Born and raised in Michigan, she has lived there her entire life, with the exception of a twelve-year residency on the Big Island of Hawaii. She enjoys reading and writing, as well as video games, especially RPG's. She has one son in his twenties.
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Every game ends yet we all still buy DLC and online currency for these games so home shouldn’t be different. Id buy items on home if I liked them. The same as I’ve bought DLC for gt5 that I’ll never use now gt6 is here. Yes home asks us to keep spending on blind faith. My spending has cut down more because what’s been released hasnt been better than I’ve got. I spend my money where I have the most fun and where the best items to buy are, and currently for me and my friends that isn’t home
One thing I know about Sony is: I don’t know.
In the end Sony keeps the lights on in Home because we show up and as long as we do, they will. I feel it’s all up to us, but then again…