IndustryGamers' GDC coverage is sponsored by Perkins Coie Interactive Entertainment Practice
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At a Sony GDC roundtable where the company unveiled a major update for PlayStation Home, Jack Buser, SCEA's director of PlayStation Home, talked about the growth of the platform and Sony's major learnings over the past couple years. Buser noted that there are now 19 million users in Home currently (a user is anyone who has registered, downloaded the software and entered Home once). Buser emphasized that games are now driving the experience on the platform and the average time spent by a user is around 70 minutes.
As much as some people might enjoy walking around the virtual world and chatting, Sony discovered that " games were the killer app of the platform," Buser noted. There are now over 230 games on Home in North America, from over 30 developers. And Buser added that people spending the most time in Home really are the core gamers who are the most avid gamers on the platform.
Buser talked about how the "freemium" model has really taken off on Home, and there have been 8,000 virtual items sold. The items that sell best are ones that do affect gameplay. They sell "an order of magnitude" more than those that are just aesthetic items, Buser stated. Similar to Facebook social games, PlayStation Home is now very much a social games platform, Buser said, and part of that equation involves constant community feedback and iteration of games.
That said, the ad supported model in Home is not being thrown out. Buser said that stuff like the Red Bull supported game is still "very much part of the strategy," but the key is to focus on great gaming content. Buser said that new PS3 users tend to find Home pretty easily, so getting new users into Home isn't a problem, but then they need to be retained with great games.
19 million users is less than 50% of the overall PS3 global installed base, but Buser said that he is "quite happy" with the numbers around Home.
