Home downloaded by 3.4 million

By Oli Welsh Published 9 January, 2009

And they're buying things, too.

Sony Computer Entertainment chief Kaz Hirai said that 3.4 million PS3 users had downloaded PlayStation Home in his Consumer Electronics Show address yesterday.

Hirai also said that Sony had sold millions of virtual goods - avatar clothing, furniture, social club licences and the like - via the stores in Home.

You can read a full transcript of Sony's keynote atGameSpot, which also included news of EA's Home support, LittleBigPlanet's strong sales and more.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (67) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • the_dudefather #1 3 years ago

    'Home downloaded by 3.4 million'

    and deleted 10 minutes later by 3.3 million

  • peterfll #2 3 years ago

    I've visited twice.

    Although I enjoy reading news which proves some people have more money than sense when it comes to the virtual world. Heh, what do I know, I'm old and the kids probably gain muchos kudos for having the latest Diesel t-shirt when they're sexually harrsasing the one female whose bothered to logon.

  • Eraysor #3 3 years ago

    So only one sixth of the PS3 base downloaded a free product? Nice job!

  • bad09 #4 3 years ago

    the_dudefather beat me to it, word for word!
    Edited by 1 at 09/01/09 @ 13:27

  • makeamazing #5 3 years ago

    I deleted mine due to hard disk space (need to upgrade) but once the redbull stuff and other things come online, I might actually reinstall it.

  • Farzlepot #6 3 years ago

    I told you in that review/preview thing comments thread that there would be gullible people who'd make it worthwhile for Sony! And there are, see?!
    Edited by 1 at 09/01/09 @ 13:33

  • Triggerhappytel #7 3 years ago

    I think Home is okay, just a little bit empty, and I've got no interest in trying to meet new PSN friends there. I'm actually considering deleting it too, due to lack of HDD space.

    I've visited twice (once in the closed beta, once about a week ago). I enjoy bowling and the arcade games, but other than that there's not much to do.

  • PrivateJoker #8 3 years ago

    The dudefather=tosser troll

  • Dark_Stranger #9 3 years ago

    I tried Home once, but the misses kept tilling me to tidy up my crap & the kids got on my tit's, so I went back down the pub with my mates.

  • Steroyd #10 3 years ago

    Log onto Home using your JPN or US account there are a crapload more home spaces to enjoy.

    Yes somehow Europe got the shaft on Home as well.

  • PrivateJoker #11 3 years ago

    Delete it if you don't like or use it and jog the fuck on.

    It's free and it has its fans/userbase and is making money for Sony. As the months and years progress it will eventually grow and grow.

    Home aint going nowhere, so to all the haters who have nothing of any importance to say, the sentiment still applies. Delete it and move on. And if you're an xbot, you don't belong here.

  • PrivateJoker #12 3 years ago

    @ Steroyd:

    Yes, Europe is getting shafted. I wish they could seperate the U.K. from it and just give us the same content as the yanks get because we're both mainly English speaking. Apparently they're trying to get closer to a same week worldwide release schedule for the PSN but it aint happening consistently enough yet.

  • DFawkes #13 3 years ago

    @PrivateJoker

    No, dudefather= mostly accurate. Feel free to relevant threads, but no-one has been blown away by it, and most got rid of it since it takes up more space than it actually needs.

    Plus, to troll there has to be someone to defend it. Not even flag-carrying SDF members will defend it, at least in its current beta form.

    EDIT: Sorry, I posted that after your first post but before the follow ups.
    Edited by 1 at 09/01/09 @ 13:54

  • PrivateJoker #14 3 years ago

    @Dfawkes:

    Home sits rather nicely on my 250gb hard drive thanks. And just over 3gb isn't that big when you consider the install sizes of GTA and Fallout 3 for example, both over 4gb.

    PS. I think it just seems a pointless excercise to criticize an application that is free and constantly evolving. People bashing it to me seem like anti PS3 fanboys who just want Sony to fail. Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony will all be back with new consoles in the next ten yrs and none of them will have failed this generation imo.

  • merkdot #15 3 years ago

    no, people bashing home aren't really out to see Sony fail at all, in general. It's just not a product for us, but the hype is aimed at us.

    people defending home on the other hand, what's up with that?

  • Bealsy #16 3 years ago

    And I wonder how many deleted it after? Waste of hard drive space.

  • MasterNameless #17 3 years ago

    I have to say, the home lovers do certainly seem to be in the minority on this one. I was quite looking forward to it when it was originally announced, but by the time it was released I was bored of the idea. I downloaded and had a go once, then immediately deleted - I didn't jog anywhere though, maybe that's where I went wrong ;).

    I'm not surprised people are buying lots of stuff, just look at the bloody mobile phone market, with those god awful, cheap adverts selling ringtones and screensavers. You'd be surprised how many people actually buy that crap.

  • drumbaby #18 3 years ago

    "and deleted 10 minutes later by 3.3 million "

    But still making good money for Sony, so they really don't care.

  • Thunderbolt #19 3 years ago

    Being free does not mean that it is above criticism - look at many people complained when Facebook had a revamp

  • MasterNameless #20 3 years ago

    And of course, it's not free to Sony. Far from it, and when so few users actually seem to want it, this argument ties in quite nicely to the fact that Sony aren't paying money to secure exclusives and DLC, for games like Fallout 3. I, for one, would prefer them to throw more money in that direction.

  • kungfubob #21 3 years ago

    No offense Sony,im just being honest here but home really doesnt do it for me at all. I have owned all the playstations for one reason and thats to play games not to stand in virtual queues and waste money on clothing etc.that doesnt actually exist and the santa suit for example really is a piss take! If i want to see a movie or games trailer i will go to a website not stand in a fake cinema for 45 minutes to watch 5 minutes of video.If i want to go bowling i will go to my local bowlng alley with my friends and meet real girls not sick minded 45 year old peados acting as teenagers.
    I paid £425 for my PS3 to play awesome games and watch blu-ray movies not this shit. I already have a life and i dont need a virtual one.

  • Widge #22 3 years ago

    I'm going to go back into home once that EA space is added.

  • Machiavellian #23 3 years ago

    What I do not understand is why people feel just because a product is free you cannot criticize it. Yaris was free on XBLA and everyone panned it as crap but you do not see anyone defending it do you. Free doesn't mean a service or game is exempt from criticism instead it means that because it's free, you lose nothing if it is crap. You can still criticize it because if no one said anything then the person who designed the free game or service would not know if they did a solid job.

    In that respect, Home deserve everything it gets and it's up to Sony to fix it if they want anyone to take Home serious. People need to stop being apologist and instead voice their concerns and expectations of a service that was promised a lot and has not delivered. I want home to be the service that Sony promised and I do not mind waiting but at this time Home isn't even close to what was promised and it looks like it will a long time coming before it gets to that state.

  • MrChuckles #24 3 years ago

    In other news 'People will pay for anything'....

  • Zelos #25 3 years ago

    Somebody's got to pay for PSN I guess, it might as well be people dumb enough to pay $4.99 for a virtual house. Keeps it free for the rest of us.

    @PrivateJoker

    Personally I criticise Home because it has a lot of good ideas that would be so much better if Sony hadn't got obsessed with the whole virtual world idea. As it is, I'm never going to use any of the functionality because it's hidden behind endless load times and a clunky interface.
    Edited by 1 at 09/01/09 @ 14:25

  • bioreit #26 3 years ago

    "'Home downloaded by 3.4 million'

    and deleted 10 minutes later by 3.3 million     "

    QFT. Most disconnected, non-user friendly, seemingly pointless Avatar/MMO experience it has ever been my misfortune to come across.

    Glad it was free, because otherwise I'd feel ripped off.

    Released way, way too early in my opinion. Needed to come out 2010 at the very earliest.

  • jaxon58 #27 3 years ago

    I girl did a crotch thrusting dance in my face on Home.

    That is all.

  • penhalion #28 3 years ago

    Poor bastards.....

  • Thunderbolt #29 3 years ago

    jaxon58,

    Are you sure that was a girl?

  • Machiavellian #30 3 years ago

    On the new EA space, I am wondering if that will make me come back to Home. Lately my friends and I have been using the party system within the 360 and the more I use it the more I like it for it's simplisty. Last night, a few friends and I emailed each other that we are going to play Horde at 9:30. We already have a party setup so once everyone join the party we can dive right into the game. I happen to come home late and my buddies started without me and they already had five members so I could not join.

    The cool aspect of the party system is that I could still communicate with everyone while they played Horde and I played Fable2. Also another cool aspect of the party system is that when I turn on my 360, I am two button presses from joining my friends without having to go into a system like home, find my friends get to a game place hub and then decide to play a game.

    I really hope Sony copies the party system from MS for people like me who want a simple method of gathering with friends and playing games.

  • jaxon58 #31 3 years ago

    Well she LOOKED like a girl, so she must have been.

  • kungfubob #32 3 years ago

    @ Jaxon58 "I girl did a crotch thrusting dance in my face on Home."

    I was on home and i played bowling and pool with some girl who then followed me around for ages and invited me to her apartment. we chatted by text for a while and then she asked if i want to video chat. It was then i found out that it was really an old man who asked me some really pervy questions. i reported him to sony but after a while i was approached again by a similar weirdo. i was mature enough to know these sickos are clever and manipulating and potentially a danger so reported them but some younger kids may be influenced by these people and thats some scary shit.

  • callum9999 #33 3 years ago

    "'Home downloaded by 3.4 million'

    and deleted 10 minutes later by 3.3 million"

    Right, so it has 0.1 million users, and $1 million dollars spent = $10 per person. I would imagine, if that was the case, Sony would be pretty pleased as if every used is spending $10 in just a few weeks, they will make millions from it.

  • jaxon58 #34 3 years ago

    I'm surprised that pervy old men even know about Home and how to install it. Maybe they're more tech savy than they were in my day, when they just offered us sweets.

    Yeah, it is sick though.

  • Matt_82 #35 3 years ago

    I haven`t deleted it yet but if those 3Gbs get in the way of something enjoyable it`s gone.

    Fair play if you enjoy it, each to their own and all that, but it ain`t for me.

  • PrivateJoker #36 3 years ago

    @KingsXKing

    Shrugs and yawns...whatever. Phony customer who owns PS3, PSP, iphone, PC, Laptop and used to Xbox360 (traded for PS3) and Wii(sold to mum, who loves wii fit lol) Ive been gaming for 25yrs mate, how about yourself?

  • paulf #37 3 years ago

    this notion of it being 'free' when there are so many microtransactions involved, but a virtual sofa, buy some virtual clothes etc is a bit dubious. Free at source maybe but to get anything out of it you have to spend money. I have really no idea of who woould buy any of this stuff, but obviously people are and good luck to sony for that, just the whole thing seems a bit of a con and not very well done to me

    re hate towards home - i have no hate towards it personally its just not very good
    Edited by 1 at 09/01/09 @ 15:37

  • Ryze #38 3 years ago

    OMG teh $ony BIAS!!!!

  • Vistrix #39 3 years ago

    @ kungfubob

    But you cant do video chat in Home can you? Did you just make that up? lol

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #40 3 years ago

    So does this mean it's actually a success then? Fuck a duck. Good for Sony, I guess.

  • The_vorlon_man #41 3 years ago

    Havent been in Home since about a week after it launched in beta.

    THere's little to do or to entice me back, but I will go back in to take a look at the stuff that's been announced when it's available.

    I suspect most people will do the same, even if they are bitter and twisted about it like some on here.

  • BOFH_UK #42 3 years ago

    @PrivateJoker: "I think it just seems a pointless excercise to criticize an application that is free and constantly evolving. People bashing it to me seem like anti PS3 fanboys who just want Sony to fail."

    BS.

    First things first, nothing in life is free. There's always a cost somewhere. In the case of home it comes in a real push to have as much as possible as paid content and the development costs are probably one more item in the loss side of the PS3 balance sheet for Sony. Add in the fact this was one of the main bullet points for Sony in 2007 that they were using to try and convince people to buy a PS3 and it's more than fair to comment on it. Let me put it this way... if the NXE for the 360 had been terrible would you honestly be saying 'it's free so you can't complain"? I somehow doubt it.

    As for criticizing home, good god, where to start? How about the stupid 'beta' tag when Sony have flatout said it's probably never going to leave beta (rendering the beta tag pointless as an excuse for poor implementation). How about the fact that Home hasn't delivered the functionality that was advertised two years ago? How about the fact that Home is currently the ONLY way to have on-line groups (or Clubs in home-speak) and it's going to be a subscription service? How about the fact that Europe is once again being treated as the red headed stepchild of the sony family? The list is pretty bloody long at this point. And don't forget that all of this effort, all these resources, could have gone somewhere else. What, for instance, if they'd got the home team working on additions to the XMB, would we have seen groups, a unified messaging system, social networking etc built right into the OS by now? There's always a cost somewhere, even if it's an opportunity cost.

    But the real nonsense here is that if you criticise you're an anti-PS3 fanboy. Now, I'm sorry, but I'm so bloody sick of seeing this sort of crap spread around. Has it ever crossed your mind (and I'm speaking to all those who have this viewpoint not just PJ here) that there are some of us out there who don't give a stuff about the manufacturer of our gaming equipment? Who apply an equal critique to everything in our gaming life regardless of whether there's a sony or microsoft badge on the box? Who would love to hold a rational debate about the pros and cons of something only to see idiot fanboys defend their point of view and emotional investment by sticking their fingers in their ears and repeating the same ludicrous 'if you don't like it you're just an anti-fanboy' nonsense?

    Home is massivley late, under-developed, expensive and a huge let down after the amount of hype Sony generated for it in 2007. Does it have potential? Yes. Will it deliver? Maybe. Will owners of the console think to come back to it when it's fixed? Some will, some won't. Has it been a massive own-goal for Sony? Good lord yes.

  • mcbi4kh2 #43 3 years ago

    Home is massivley late, under-developed, expensive and a huge let down after the amount of hype Sony generated for it in 2007. Does it have potential? Yes. Will it deliver? Maybe. Will owners of the console think to come back to it when it's fixed? Some will, some won't. Has it been a massive own-goal for Sony? Good lord yes.

    Dude, I gotta ask, what is it with you and bee's?
    Edited by 1 at 09/01/09 @ 16:23

  • kungfubob #44 3 years ago

    @Vistrix

    "But you cant do video chat in Home can you? Did you just make that up? lol
    ignore poster"

    No i didnt make it up,we chatted on MSN
    Edited by 1 at 09/01/09 @ 16:37

  • MasterNameless #45 3 years ago

    I would say "Excuse my ignorance, but what is Microsoft BOB?"...

    ...but I'm guessing that's the point you're making. :)
    Edited by 1 at 09/01/09 @ 16:50

  • MasterNameless #46 3 years ago

    I had headed there striaght away anyway, good old wiki! Thanks for the linkage regardless. As I suspected, my not knowing what it was, was the point you were making anyway. If it were a success I'd have heard of it. :)
    Edited by 2 at 09/01/09 @ 16:55

  • Skooch #47 3 years ago

    What is a social club license?

  • SEVQA #48 3 years ago

    If I ever meet anyone who says they bought a virtual potted plant or a pair of virtual jeans for 3.99 I will inform them that they are indeed what are commonly referred to as a stupid cunt!

  • GamesConnoisseur #49 3 years ago

    BOFH-UK: Good post lad!

    No one defends or being fanboy for LG the TV manufacturer but they DO for Sony/MS the game machine manufacturer?!! I desist MS as the bloated OS/Office suite leeches but admired their consoles. People do have a consumer right to decide which product suits them the best.

    As the potential consumer of HOME, I lost interest in it the moment I had to load in different areas and yet still put up with the loading in of avatars and so on after the initial wait. Yes more for Second Life/Sim crowd but even free simply not for me and I prefer MS's brilliant party system and if Sony implement that great! Trophy had actually encouraged me to spend more time playing game on PS3 which is fortunate as I now have dedicated BD player which relegated PS3 multi media function for me.

    Home have potential but hard to see it will get going unless Sony dedicate more of their resources to better realise it but yet I DONT want Sony to be diverted from other improvments they could make to XMB. If it eventually succeed in big way, I will be pleased for them and consumers who are happy with that kind of stuff.

    /Giggles that my attempt at going girly was quite successful and had plonkers droolings at a male!

  • smelly #50 3 years ago

    I've had a play with it.. dont see the point.. it seems to just be a wrapper to get me into my games.. but it's a MUCH slower process to start my games - as opposed to just selecting a 2d menu option..

    I just dont "get" it.. Although when i state this opinion to my ps3 owning chums.. they all think i'm just "bashing" the ps3 or something.

    Which is weird.. i'm not saying the console is crap.. i am saying "home" is...

  • cherryuk #51 3 years ago

    Well I thought the sofa's and stuff were too blocky so I didn't buy them!

    All will go to s**t if home has an update - it's a beta for f**ks sake - don't buy anything yet!!

  • SilentScream #52 3 years ago

    You know what'll be cool?

    For the games section in Home, you could incorporate yourself into a game of football with other users, it'll be well amusing.

    Better than playing Bowling imo.

  • Rash' #53 3 years ago

    masternameless, i think you'll recognise by the end of this year Sony are investing their money on exclusive first party content, which in my view is better than exclusive DLC. MS investing money on exclusives, first party or otherwise, is news to me. their investment in the online model they've set up as well as exclusive DLC, appears to be denting their first party output, but lets see what they announce. CES didn't prove particularly exciting from their perspective.

    On topic, home doesn't seem exciting, i have to agree, but as more third parties contribute and more partnerships are formed, like the Redbull deal, I'm sure the service will expand to cater to a more diverse range of tastes. Good on them for reaching a more socially conscience market. Most of the snobbery on this thread is plain depressing.

  • Rash' #54 3 years ago

    Mach, the party system does sound cool. apparently Sony are working on a 2D home which negates the need do all the virtual world in home. lets see.

  • Sweetmate #55 3 years ago

    Tried it for 30 minutes, bored me to tears, uninstalled, will never touch again.

  • djed #56 3 years ago

    NO JUMP BUTTON.

    SORRY SONY, BUT IT'S NO GOLDENEYE.

  • -Hex- #57 3 years ago

    Exactly like Sony said, a 20/80 split, where the 20% makes up the income.

  • Ryze #58 3 years ago

    Yeah, right tRash'. Of course, MS haven't invested any money in exclusives at all this gen.

    Fool.

  • Ryze #59 3 years ago

    Many people simply see home as an unnecessary gimmick. The money could have been used to implement the features lacking from the PS3's existing online service.

    I've not tried Home myself (not really interested), so I'll reserve judgement.

    'PS3 - This is Waiting!'

    /waits...

  • Azazel #60 3 years ago

    NO JUMP BUTTON

    glol!

    Maybe EG should have a thing at the end of each review. FEATURE JUMP BUTTON Y/N? and mark games up or down one point accordingly.

  • Kryon #61 3 years ago

    @PrivateJoker

    "Shrugs and yawns...whatever. Phony customer who owns PS3, PSP, iphone, PC, Laptop and used to Xbox360 (traded for PS3) and Wii(sold to mum, who loves wii fit lol) Ive been gaming for 25yrs mate, how about yourself?"

    LOL, so your mums a bit of a fatty then, yeah? Seriously though, you're the worst kind of fanboy knob, most of the people who think home is shite are people like myself who tried it and deleted it, not 'xbots' who don't own a PS3 trying to troll. There is nothing wrong with criticizing a product you have tried and disliked. The fact that you've been gaming for so long is even sadder, perhaps you should have grown out of your childish fanboy hissy fits by now?

  • Rash' #62 3 years ago

    Ryze, sometimes i don't know whether it's your lack of understanding that makes you so arrogant, or your arrogance that makes you incapable of understanding.

    of course they've invested in the years gone by but where's that investment now. honestly why don't you grow up. seriously dude karma. think about it.
    Edited by 1 at 10/01/09 @ 15:18

  • callum9999 #63 3 years ago

    @Mrwhite

    "$1,000,000 would not cover the development cost, the server cost etc.

    Home looked amazing.

    Then they released it. And there was nothing there."

    I am aware of that, but if Sony has made a million dollars from it and its still not out of beta yet - that suggests they will continue making large amounts of money.

  • JackB #64 3 years ago

    To the people who say, "well, at least it's making money for Sony...".

    Is it? How much did it cost to develop, market and now maintain? I'd expect they are a long long way from "making money".

  • smelly #65 3 years ago

    And i fail to see how (as a consumer) making money for sony (or any of the console manufacturers) is good - for me?

  • rarebit #66 3 years ago

    its a bit bland at the mo, but I'm happy to wait and see what comes of it.

  • cherrylocke #67 3 years ago

    NO JUMP BUTTON

    THERE IS NO RUN BUTTON EITHER which annoys me, surely you can run in a virtual world too?