PlayStation boss Jim Ryan has shared praise for Sony's PS3 project PlayStation Home in newly revealed documents part of the court case concerning Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard. While talk surrounding the Metaverse has somewhat died down as of late, Ryan believes PlayStation Home was an early interpretation of the concept, and was even "10 to 15 years ahead of its time".
Taken from a Q&A with Fidelity conducted last year, Ryan said the following when asked about Sony's own metaverse strategy and how PSVR2 might be a part of it: "We're approaching metaverse conversations through two lenses. First is as a platform holder. We had something called PlayStation Home for the PS3 and that was a very early manifestation of a platform metaverse. It was probably 10- 15 years ahead of its time."
He then continues by revealing the company has "a couple of projects underway that are very exciting for us, in terms of creating some sort of game-type metaverse which can possibly have collaboration with other parts of Sony". PSVR2 is not playing a role in those plans right now, but it could be included "down the road". Since the Q&A is taken from 2022, it's unclear how much closer Sony is to revealing its Metaverse plans in the present.
Operating from December 2008 through to April 2015, PlayStation Home was a free PS3 app where you could create your own avatar and explore a virtual world. You could customise your own personal apartment, enter public spaces to interact with promotions and events from Sony and its partners, and win prizes.
[source reddit.com]
Comments 49
No Jim, the Metaverse is already dead before it truly began. Only 6 people turned up the EU’s party in the Metaverse. It cost $400k. When will they learn that dictating to consumers what will take off just doesn’t work?
A PlayStation Home revival would be an easy win for them on three fronts:
1. Bringing back an IP that people have wanted
2. It gives them a live service to work with
3. PSVR2 integration could possibly be a system seller
I'm baffled they haven't done this yet.
Oh wow is there a Home 2 coming then. 😁
Companies keep telling us how much we all want the metaverse, but who actually wants the metaverse?
This man needs to stop talking before he angers people more than they already are. Two strokes isn’t enough, Jim. Need another!
I had fun in Home on a few occasions, I mostly liked the holiday lights, but never used it socially, just ran around and played the single player mini games like Uncharted. I'd go back in if they brought it back but still wouldn't interact w/ anyone. 🤷♂️
Even the shareholders of Facebook are questioning to DataZuck why he’s still prepared to lose more money on it when very few seem interested . His response was that he wasn’t sure it would be a success. At least it’s corporations losing money and not us. Enjoy the crash and burn they’re all going to take
@rjejr I got quite a large GT5 community started on PSHome. Full lobbies every night. Those were the days 👌
The man has an uncanny ability to be 100% wrong every single time he says anything.
So will we see first party games in 10-15 years?
So if its 10 to 15 years ahead of its time, why don't we have anything like it today 15 years down the line?
I can't think of anyone in gaming who talks more rubbish than Jim Ryan
But then he didn't do anything to keep it alive...lol
I never saw the point in Playstation Home and after trying it several times, I still never felt it was something I'd want. It felt like an advertising platform with Microtransactions and extremely underwhelming 'activities' based on their IP's.
Yes it may have been ahead of the Live Service junk experiences loaded with Micro transactional content that ended up costing more to keep going than money coming in and therefore disappeared leaving all those who spent money with nothing. That does sound a lot like many of the Live Service games that have come along since and subsequently disappeared when they too couldn't sell enough useless MTX's to keep going...
Never tried PS Home myself but I've been hearing people singing praises about it for being way ahead of its time.
That said, having a PS Home with modern day trend in Metaverse could become problematic.
@carlos82 Phil Spencer tells more lies and rubbish things.
I'm all for a PS Home 2. All depends what type of stuff we can do inside it. I can imagine going into PS Home before every gaming session. Has its very own updated daily gaming news we can check daily. Has our very own trophy room displaying our most rare plats and rarest trophies. Each get our own massive PS Stars room to keep track of challenges daily. Or even something like a big PS Plus room
@Mikey856 "Those were the days"
Everything was better before covid. 😂
Seriously though, they should have launched Home in 2020, would have given me something to do besides play Animal Crossing for 300 hours. 😝
Home was fun on the few occasions I ventured in. I only tried it a few times for the holiday themed stuff and to watch trailers in the cinema.
I wouldn't complain if it came back, especially in VR.
I don't really miss it either though.
Now if they were to create an app that lets me put on my VR2 headset and watch TV on the top of Minas Tirith or something like that, I'd be all for that.
@lightningbolt79 There is no need for any metaverse in anybody lives. It is just place for virtual advertisement, I don't see any other purpose. Life is too short to waste it in another virtual universe, metaverse or how do you name that...
They need to bring Home back with PlayStation Stars and VR support.
@carlos82
You don't know Uncle Phil then? The man who pretends to be one with gamers. LOL. It's all about money. Honestly, he does put on a good act.
Jim Ryan is a moron and I don't think he's ever picked up a controller in his life. He spouts absolute nonsense and I find him incredibly unlikable.
Also, PlayStation Home was rubbish.
Need that image of Principle Skinner questioning whether he's out of touch with Jim's face instead.
The Metaverse-esque stuff is, quite frankly, boring. I’m really not sure why so many of these huge businesses are so eager to blow boatloads of money on this nonsense when people in the real world are starving.
I liked the ps home. I used it a bit. Didn't have any friends who used it tho. Wish it was on the PS4, I think I would have used it a bit more.
One of my best memories in gaming tbf, despite being super limited by hardware limitations, it was lots of fun to have with friends. Also i was like 14 so it was much more fun to play these type of games.
Jim Ryan proving how clueless he is again. The sooner he's gone, the better.
Think home 2 would be pretty cool. With ps5 hardware they could do a lot more with the spaces than they did back then.
I wanted to like PS Home. But just never found it very fun or appealing. Great in concept i believe. But nothing to write home about in execution.
I remember trying out PS Home back in late 2009 just as my household upgraded to ADSL internet (what a time to be alive!).
I remember reading about some sort of interactive Trophy Room you'd be able to access in PS Home to browse through your trophies and it would be like some sort of museum-like experience.
The novelty soon wore off with all the long loading times between all the sections.
I think I checked it out again during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, but I didn't stick around too long.
The ideas and concepts were definitely ahead of their time. The PS3 was just not the platform that it required to succeed.
@__jamiie Mark Cerny would wipe the floor against Pinocchio Phil Spencer when it comes to actually playing video games
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Very disappointed they don’t just remake PS Home but with VR functionality. To not be building it around VR is crazy to me.
Home was a neat concept. I enjoyed the 'marketing' aspects of it, as I could visit a virtual RE5 booth and play mini games and such. I think I remember a virtual E3 in there one year.
I had a schoolmate who lived in PS Home, for him it was a second a life and he had a whole community there, it had its audiences and would be neat to see a revival for people who love that sort of thing.
I still honestly don't get what Jim Ryan has done to get the vitriol he gets. It seems to come from people who misunderstand out of context quotes he says.
@AdamNovice People think he doesn't know anything about video games or playstation when he's the reason the brand is so big in europe.
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@__jamiie he hasn’t. This is the guy who once said “I don’t understand why people like games so much.” While leading a gaming company. The guy is not remotely fit for this role.
I created a Japanese PSN account to download the Namco collection demo which gave you playable arcade cabinets for your home space. Pac-Man? Sure!
Home was ahead of its time and very lgbt+
I still have PS friends from there.
Should have been on PS4 already.
Why is it everything Jim ryan is doing sounds terrible? 😑
@__jamiie nope I don't think Jim Ryan is wonderful or do I think he plays games and quite frankly I really don't care if he does or doesn't. You don't need to be gaming to sell a console, all you need to know is business. OK there wasn't any connection to Mark Cerny or Phil Spencer in your original comment when I replied I'll give you that but it was my frustration coming through more than anything. There is literally nothing in this article that would paint Jim Ryan as a moron. Just admit it you originally overreacted to this article because you hate Jim Ryan its OK. Also you believing that there's more people who hate PS Home in comparison to those that like it doesn't make you correct. Yh there's some bias towards a PlayStation console, I'm not in anyway trying to hide that, no real need to get the other consoles tbh
Wasn't meant as a cheapshot but if that's what you wanna call it OK
Bless his heart....
@mariomaster96 No Spider-Man is around the corner. 😅
@AdamNovice I like the guy better then our friend Phil who is a two-faced liar. A thing he needs to do more is think is before talks. But atleast he is honest about opinion.
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I’m embarrassed to admit I was a PS Home junkie for a while. I’m not sure if it would fit into my current lifestyle, but at the time I really loved it. I met a few friends, which are gone now, but I think he’s right about it being a concept that was ahead of it’s time. It was like a poor man’s Yakuza crossed with Fortnite. It had several mini-games to engage with like bowling, chess, basketball, and also had community events to attend with other people. Nothing on the order of a virtual Ariana Grande concert, mind you, but it was an small embryo of what would follow. Oh yeah, and the cosmetic microtransactions… it had those too. 😅
On second thought — curse you, PS Home!
Okay, Jim, the door is over there, start making your way to it by March yeah?
I'm going to assume he was involved with it and its why he is bringing it up.
But you know what else Jim, it failed massively just like your useless 4 billion Bungee purchase and focus on GAAS currently is doing.
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