Number of Home users hits 7 million

By Ellie Gibson Published 15 July, 2009

Nigh on half of them are based in Europe.

Sony's Peter Edward has revealed 7 million people have now signed up for PlayStation Home.

Edward, who is European director for the service, was speaking at the Develop conference in Brighton. He said the figure includes 3 million people in Europe alone.

Since Home launched seven months ago, European users have downloaded 6 million pieces of merchandise. Yes, said Edward, some of those were free, but make no mistake: "This is a commercial business, it is up and running and it is making money."

According to Edward, "only" 80 per cent of Home users are 18 to 35 year-old males. That might sound like a lot, he said, but think about the typical age and gender of the average console gamer. "Home is slowly broadening the appeal of the console market out to a widening demographic," he added.

Fact fans may also like to know the average time a European user spends on Home in a single session is 56 minutes. "In terms of exposure and people's attention, that is a huge amount of time," said Edward.

It hasn't been easy, of course - "Obviously there have been a lot of trials and tribulations along the way," the exect conceded. However, "Now, we're starting to see a huge amount of content coming into the platform... Content is arriving which we didn't even know was being developed."

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (36) Latest comment 3 years ago

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

  • linksdad #1 3 years ago

    "average time a European user spends on Home in a single session is 56 minutes"

    That will be 50 minutes patching and a further 6 to find out that they shouldnt have bothered.

  • Xerx3s #2 3 years ago

    So, how many of those 7 million signed on in the past 3 months? Lies, damned lies and statistics and all that. :/

  • Cappy #3 3 years ago

    I guess I count as one of those seven million.

    How many people come back though? There just isn't anything to do on Home, you boot it once, maybe twice in the hope of an improvement and then it's forgotten or deleted.

  • bioreit #4 3 years ago

    Logged in once, spent an hour finding out there was very little to do, logged off. Tried various times over the last few months to log back in, but those damn errors keep hacking me off to the point where I don't bother any more.

    However, even if half the users are like me, 3.5 million users (who probably constitute the hardcore, on it all the time crowd) is pretty good going for a first attempt.

    Still think PS3 could benefit from a tighter services integration instead though, like 360. Like, why can't I bring up the XMB while watching a Blu-Ray? Why can't I background download while watching a Blu-Ray? Actually, why do I have to manually set downloads to be background?

    /sorry for the rant!

  • Retroid #5 3 years ago

    My sister-in-law and her boyfriend are perfect examples of the types of people Home should appeal to.

    Both have PS3s, they currently live over 100 miles apart, both have internet access (obviously), both thought Home would be great; meet up, wander around, watch videos together while chatting in their virtual apartment.

    Except you can't watch videos in your virtual apartment like they said would be possible, voicechat only works for them in the apartments so they can't wander in public areas while using voice, and there's really bugger-all else for them to do together.

    End result? They phone each other as it's less hassle and hardly use Home anymore, as far as I know.

  • menage #6 3 years ago

    I'll be damned if I waste harddisk space on crap like this.

  • Figgernaggot #7 3 years ago

    It really is a load of shit.

    I think Sony are just attempting to prey on a certain type of customer: fucking idiots.

  • toy_brain #8 3 years ago

    "How many people come back though? There just isn't anything to do on Home, you boot it once, maybe twice in the hope of an improvement and then it's forgotten or deleted."

    Xi was decent when it was running. Took a bit of getting into (some of the puzzles were damn tough) but it really made Home feel like it could go somewhere and be interesting with the right sort of effort.
    Aaand once yer done with that, you could go play some Helecopter hit (umm, yay I guess), or create a US account, a female avatar, and go get hit on 30 times every minute by lonely yanks.
    And yes, its just as creepy as it sounds - for both people involved. \o/

  • mikeck #9 3 years ago

    http://ww w.penny-arcade.com/2009/07/14/f...

    Food for thought for Home?
    Edited by 1 at 15/07/09 @ 12:33

  • jonsaan #10 3 years ago

    Why exactly did they replace the orginal half decent games in the arcade with the pile of rubbish that has been on there ever since? The Helicopter game was great.

  • chubster2010 #11 3 years ago

    re 'There just isn't anything to do on Home'

    Not true. There's plenty to do. Fact. If you're too lazy to find it, then that's your fault, not Sony's! If it simply doesn't appeal to you - fair enough. But it a fallacy that there's 'nothing to do'.

  • chubster2010 #12 3 years ago

    @ Mikeck
    re. Pennyarcade article

    They say re. 1 vs 100 ' There is no "not play" option, and there's no twisted, Soviet rationing of play like that proposed by the Sony offering', but doesn't 1 vs 100 only allow you experience the full 'game show' at scheduled times? So, outside of those scheduled times, it's more 'can't play' than 'not play'?

    Home is an open, always accessible world. 1 vs 100 is a mmo quiz show with avatars - I don't see how the two are really comparable.
    Edited by 1 at 15/07/09 @ 13:17

  • 4thVariety #13 3 years ago

    Installed it, got tired of waiting in line for any of the minigames, walked around looking at ads, figured I could actually play something right now on my PS3 instead of waiting for a promotion game, deleted Home. I'd say, those were my 30 minutes.

    I also like to watch my trailers in glorious HD on a huge LCD. Those worse than Youtube videoshows are not exactly visually appealing. Same goes for the new music video channel.

  • Doctor_What #14 3 years ago

    "Home is slowly broadening the appeal of the console market out to a widening demographic,"

    Really? I get asked about my PS3 fairly often (do the games justify the cost is the usual one), but I don't ever have anyone asking me about Home. Unless you're into your consoles already then you'll probably never hear of it or be bothered by the sound of it. I have no idea how that fits in with the 'widening demographic' claim.

  • mikeck #15 3 years ago

    @Chubster

    It was more the point that they found Home was more trying to find 'a solution to a complex problem that didn't exist' that intrigued me.

    Also, 1vs100 shows that MS knows what it wants it's users to do, take your avatar and play a game, rather than give gamers an avatar and have said gamers not game as per Home...

    I've nothing against Home, I just found that Penny Arcade article quite amusing that was all ;)

  • MiniAmin #16 3 years ago

    "only" 80 per cent of Home users are 18 to 35 year-old males.

    Wow just 80%. Only 80%. Merely 80%. When has 80% ever been a slight figure?

    Anyway, i've seen home at a friend's house, and rest assured "only" 80% home users follow the 5% of females (or avatars that appear female) and dance. The remaining 15% of people on home are probably pretending to be older than 18. Or pretending to be younger than 35.

    Still if sony are serious about "the 10 year life cycle" for PS3, home should be pretty great given time.

  • Teamallstar #17 3 years ago

    I really enjoy my time spent wandering around a half finished virtual world with nothing to do or see and having to load each room or different area each time I want to go anywhere.

    My personal favourite is the way in which they make you download and then install a new update every other day.

    I didnt realise that there were so many other people willing to endure this pointless dull world!

  • chubster2010 #18 3 years ago

    @ Mikeck
    Fair enough.
    Though...
    Should that not be '1vs100 shows that MS knows what Nintendo wants it's users to do, take your avatar and play a game...' ;)

    (joke)
    Edited by 1 at 15/07/09 @ 13:48

  • Cappy #19 3 years ago

    [/i]According to the newer news article, 2/3 of people have only booted Home once.

    Think about that, after seeing what was on offer they never came back. Of the remaining 25-30% who have booted Home more than once... Say twice how many are even sporadic users?

    The actual regular user-base for home could be very small indeed. I don't think they are doing themselves any favours plumping the numbers like this with such a loose interpretation of the term user.
    Edited by 2 at 15/07/09 @ 13:57

  • chubster2010 #20 3 years ago

    @ Mikeck
    Re. the Pennyarcade thing and 1 vs 100

    This is from Eurogamers own hands-on with 1 vs 100

    'the problem is you end up making small talk too, as there are loads of breaks between rounds. Some of these breaks will eventually be filled with adverts for all manner of stuff, but on Friday they were all just ads for downloading movies from Xbox Live - a service which, if you've managed to download a game beta, you're probably aware of. You might as well try to sell me ovaries, Microsoft.'

    So... rather that putting your avatar 'in an advert' (as Pennyarcade describe Home), 1 vs 100 simply forces you to watch adverts... just like on the telly... Brilliant. Thank god for technological progress!
    Edited by 5 at 15/07/09 @ 14:22

  • bioreit #21 3 years ago

    [/i]@ chubster2010

    "Not true. There's plenty to do. Fact. If you're too lazy to find it, then that's your fault, not Sony's! If it simply doesn't appeal to you - fair enough. But it a fallacy that there's 'nothing to do'."

    Yeah, but come on - queuing for a place in a virtual bowling alley? Really? It's not as if it can place that much more of a strain on servers to allow a couple of dozen thousand simultaneous games of ten pin.

    I do think Home has quite a bit of promise, but the idea behind it is weird - let's take gamers using their game console, get them to boot up a separate program, where they can then talk to some of their friends and watch videos in smaller pictures in lower quality and then queue up to play games.

    Live doesn't have as much potential, but on the other hand, things like the party chat are an instrinsic feature of the console - as long as you're connected to the Internet, you can chat with friends, regardless of what you're doing, without any breaks in the flow, you can invite friends to games, soon you can watch videos like in Home via the Sky Player thing.

    Yes, different strokes for different folks, but the Live way is much more integrated, whereas Home belies Sony's obvious 'cath-up' policies, by being more disparate.

    Still, I fully expect PS4 to rectify any of the current issues - as ever, it's a learning process.
    Edited by 1 at 15/07/09 @ 14:32

  • chubster2010 #22 3 years ago

    @ bioreit
    I'm not sure the queueing for games thing is a great idea myself. But then... it is still a Beta and I'm sure Sony are learning what works and what doesn't.

    To be fair though, I have struck up conversations with random people when waiting for a game of something, then ended up having an impromptu SFIV figh etct with them... which is pretty cool.

    Also, a lot of the newer games in there don't seem to have queuing.

    Home isn't perfect, but I don't think it deserves the vitriol that is constantly fired at it. It's a new idea for consoles that is still very much in it's early days. I for one am still more than happy to give it a chance, and generally enjoy spending a little time 'there'.

  • mikeck #23 3 years ago

    Heaven forbid I post a link to something I found humourous again :p

    For those who take umbrage with that PA article, perhaps you should stop being so precious, they rip it out if everyone when it is deserved.

    To clarify, I think Home could be a very cool proposition, however it needs to offer more than it currently does that's all. It's not bad, I don't hate it, but as somebody who just wants to play games on my PS3 I don't use it, it currently offers me no reason to go in there, that's all. It also won't sell consoles.
    Edited by 1 at 15/07/09 @ 14:51

  • chubster2010 #24 3 years ago

    @ mikeck
    You posted the link as 'food for thought'... it got me thinking, so i felt I should respond!

    Don't post things if you don't want people to comment on them!

  • mikeck #25 3 years ago

    @Chubster

    Who said anything about my last post being directed at you?

  • chubster2010 #26 3 years ago

    @ Mikeck
    Did anyone else comment on your link? (a quick skim-read suggests not!).

    Anyway... it still stands... Don't post something if you don't want a response!

  • M_of_the_sys #27 3 years ago

    80 per cent of Home users are 18 to 35 year-old males

    20 per cent of Home users are under 18 year old males.

    I use home occasionally to see what's new. The only thing that held my attention and made me log in on a regular basis was Xi which I thought was excellent! Just had a thought, can I start an online match of FNR4 through home?

  • bioreit #28 3 years ago

    @ chubster2010

    Oh, I agree that it has loads of promise and I think the hate it garners is somewhat ridiculous (although it has to be said, none of that is in evidence here), but I do think that a more unified services approach would benefit Sony more - if they can do that AND implement and improve Home, then all well and good, but if it's a choice between one or t'other, I know which one I'd prefer...

  • bioreit #29 3 years ago

    Edit:

    Scratch that - article updated!

    As a side note, interesting how Xerx3s got his post buried for asking a question which actually ended up being answered in an article a wee while later. I mean, his question is certainly pertinent in light of the fact that apparently less than a third of Home users actually used it more than once.

    Maybe those who 'downed' his post should 'up' it now?

    /wow - look at that squadron of airborne porcines!
    Edited by 1 at 15/07/09 @ 15:44

  • busboy33 #30 3 years ago

    "This is a commercial business, it is up and running and it is making money."

    Great . . . but is it making a profit?

  • busboy33 #31 3 years ago

    @ chubster:

    "There's plenty to do. Fact. If you're too lazy to find it, then that's your fault, not Sony's!"

    So I need to hunt for something to do? You know how to sell my brother!

  • chubster2010 #32 3 years ago

    @ Busboy
    It's not my job to sell Home to you my friend! I'm a user, not a producer (hey!).

    Have you ever played Animal Crossing? There's 'nothing to do' in that either, unless you're willing to spend a little time digging beneath the surface.

    The fact is - if I had a pound for every time I read someone saying 'I logged into to Home, wandered about for 20 mins, thought it was shit and logged off never to log back in again' I'd be a very rich man. I'm assuming that most/a lot of these people logged in at launch (which would also explain the complaints about it not working properly)* when...yes...agreed...content was pretty thin on the ground.

    Home, as it stands now, has progressed a lot since those buggy-wasteland days, but, yes, you do have to engage with it/explore it to see everything it has to offer. Which, for me at least, is a large part of what makes it interesting. Without this aspect, they might have well just called it 'List' - and listed a collection of mini-games. Maybe that's what people want!

    * To reiterate - I absolutely accept and understand why Home has its critics, and that its not going to appeal to everyone.
    Edited by 1 at 15/07/09 @ 16:05

  • NoQuarter #33 3 years ago

    They probably all landed in it by accident. I keep opening it when I'm trying to go to the Playstation Store (cunningly they're right by each other and look rather similar).

  • rprince #34 3 years ago

    The number of people who still visit Home on a regular bassist is five.

  • AphoticCosmos #35 3 years ago

    Might that be because the European gamers have nothing else to play due to being continually shafted by Sony & Co.?

  • EmiliasHorse #36 3 years ago

    I am one of those 7 million, I even bought a nice pair of shoes and a suit. I wandered around and got hit on by a few likely lads out for a bit of virtual skirt. I got bored much quicker than it took to download, made my excuses and logged out.

    Months passed

    I went back last week and it is still there and I still got hit on by some likely lads....Damn that red skirt suit turns heads.

  • MiniAmin #37 3 years ago

    lol. My previous comment wasn't well received. Even though "Emilia"s horse" validated what I said about women on the service getting followed around. Truth hurts?