PlayStation 3’s Best Feature Long Overdue Its Comeback, PS5 Will Benefit

The PlayStation 5 lacks sauce. In fact, every modern gaming console does, and do you know why? The social element is gone.

After years of gaming on the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii, it’s been a real shame to see the personality of modern consoles slowly fade away, replaced with ideas like efficiency and simplification.

It feels like the soul of these consoles has disappeared and while there are so many factors to consider when questioning why, I think a lack of the community is the biggest culprit.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot since I saw this Reddit thread by iluse_. It was talking about PlayStation Home, a social hub you could find on the PlayStation 3 back in the day which unfortunately didn’t take off enough to continue on future PlayStation consoles.

Does Anyone Else Miss PlayStation Home? Ahead of its Time

Players could make their avatar and explore a variety of hub worlds, even earning or purchasing in-game items inspired by various games, films, TV shows and more. One I vividly remember is you could get the 11th Doctor’s Tardis from Doctor Who. It was massive and incredibly detailed.

Aside from the cool collaborations though, it was just a fun social space to hang out with friends or strangers. There wasn’t a whole lot to it and yet I’m sure there are plenty of gamers out there with fond memories of it.

While the Xbox 360 didn’t have anything too similar, it at least had games that allowed you to import your profile’s avatar, with my personal favourite being Castelminer Z.

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Unfortunately, PlayStation Home wasn’t carried over to the PlayStation 4, and by extension the PlayStation 5.

Sony

It’s a shame because I think nowadays it’d be really appreciated. Despite there being such a big push for single-player games, multiplayer isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and with things like Discord integration on consoles, it’s clear gamers still feel the need to socialise if they’re not playing the same game.

Presentation is everything though. It has to be engaging and there has to be something to do aside from just stand around with cool avatars and chat. Fortunately, PlayStation already has the perfect solution if it’s willing to push the boat out, Astro Bot.

As the current mascot for PlayStation, I’d love to see an Astro Bot spin-off where you can customise your own bot and hang out with your friends in worlds inspired by PlayStation IPs. It doesn’t have to be any more complex than Astro’s Playroom, just give us customisable social hubs and maybe a few levels and I’m sure it’d go down well with users.

Bring back gaming social hubs. I’m sick of staring at boring main menu UI when I can’t find anything to play.