Millions Visit PlayStation Home, But Few Return

[GonzoGamer]

I tried to give it a shot but when they wanted me to fork out REAL money to buy FAKE items I said (along with many others apparently) "F*** that."

I'm sorry Sony. I bought your $600 system to play games and watch Blu Ray movies, not to buy $2 pieces of fake furniture for my virtual house that nobody gives a s*** about.

I feel the same way. This also applies to Little Big Planet Costumes and Burnout Cars.

That said, I think their mistake was trying to get too many people into the beta. It hardly worked when it opened. When it did work, there was nothing to do except watch the virgins harass every female avatar wandering around.
Now there are things to do and games to play but I'm guessing few care at this point. They need to spur interest in it again by making developers offer extras for home included with and relevant to new games. They would see more home activity and it would also probably lead to a higher attach rate for multiplatform games if they came with clothes and decorations for home.

 

[squid5580]

Isn't this a good thing? I am not a business major or anything but it seems to me that if everyone spends all thier time at Home then they aren't playing retail games. And if they aren't playing retail games then they aren't buying them. It seems to me an average Joe that Sony is discouraging people from playing games on the PS3. That they put the gaming part on the low end of thier priority list.

Calm down fanboys. I am not bashing the PS3. This is a marketing problem and has nothing to do with what the console can or can't do or what games it has.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

i don't mind it but frankly there's not much to do there, if they had more stuff to do i'd probly hang out there more often

 

[jamesworkshop]

home is just a complete rip off

 

[burgbrand22]

How dumb is Home?

You have to wait in line to play bowling or an arcade game.

You have to pay real money for a couch and a shirt.

 

[Beffudled Sheep]

When I first started Home up it was pretty cool. I had civil conversations with about twenty people. Gained about 7 psn friends and about 3 real friends. I also beat a bunch of people at chess! Then the trolls came and I got bored. That happened in the first week and I haven't gone on it since. I really hoped that it would work out for Sony but Im not surprised it failed. I still want it to work out for them.

 

[Jumplion]

I personally like HOME for what it is. It's not something for you to invest hours of your time in, it's something you do every now and again to check up on what's going on. It definately needs to improve, but it has enormous potential for what it can do.

EDIT: So, I did some small math with this. Around 7 million people total have visited HOME. 30% of that is a little more than 2 million people. Now, whether that means 2 million people visited twiceo whatever, I don't know, but I'd say that that's a fairly decent amount of people. Does this count worldwide or America only for whatever reason?

 

[FinalHeart95]

Well, I have PSN... on my PSP. I do not own a PS3. So I must be one of the ones who has PSN but doesn't go on home.

See how things can be twisted?

By twisted, do you mean how a simple news article can me misinterpreted?

If you have a PSP, how could you have even visited Home the first time?

The story is about PS3 owners who have visited Home only once and never returned, not about PSP owners who can't visit Home because they don't own a PS3.

Well Playstation Network spans over the PS3 and PSP, so for all we know, they could be talking about all PSN members, not just PS3 ones. Would be stupid, but it's possible.

 

[sunami88]

I'd be interested in seeing how many people returned 5 or more times. I wonder what the drop off would be then (or if the rate of return is much higher for those people?).

 

[Axle_Bullitt_19]

I found a Penny Arcade comic that sums it up.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/12/12/

 

[Lord Krunk]

Why does that picture remind me of Ivory Tower in Halo 2?

 

[megapenguinx]

Well the thing is there isn't much to do in there... C'mon Sony! Do something interesting with Home! Let people earn trophies and clothes for their avatar a lot more often in there.

 

[Pendragon9]

Well, at least it has people visiting it. I consider that a personal victory.

 

[dudeman0001]

Did any of you people check out Xi? It was the best part of home, it was a big mistake making it so difficult to find.

 

[Sprinkles McDouche]

they need to bundle headsets with the system so everybody has one and let u hav parties like xbox live. it would b better if everyone could talk not just txt.

 

[LongAndShort]

Isn't the same thing happening to Twitter? Millions signing up but only a minority actually returning.

Still, sounds painful.