Featured Image Credit: Sony
Topics: PlayStation
It's easy to look back and suggest something was 'ahead of its time' but in this instance, it's correct. Whether it's a good thing or not depends on your mileage. PlayStation exec Jim Ryan had been speaking on the Metaverse and Sony's Metaverse plans in documents previously not made public during the Microsoft V. FTC deposition.
Ryan commented that PlayStation Home was "10 [to] 15 years ahead of its time." PlayStation Home was a social space for players to hang out in on the PlayStation 3 and very much mirrored Second Life at the time. Of course, now we see this style of online interaction as part of the forever cursed 'Metaverse.'
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Ryan called it a "very early manifestation" of the Metaverse, though it could be argued that Home was far more successful than any Metaverse product of the modern day. Metaverse is, seemingly, still a buzzword for execs. Ryan went on to explain, "We have a couple of projects underway that are very exciting for us, in terms of creating some sort of game-type Metaverse which can possibly have collaboration with other parts of Sony."
More recently, Web3 ideas have become a derided aspect of the industry after many companies attempted to jump on a bandwagon whose wheels were already loose. NFTs fell by the wayside, blockchain means little to most gamers and the Metaverse is already here in games such as Second Life or in many MMOs.
Bringing back Home would be a boon for Sony, assuming that other companies want to still explore Metaverse options. An interconnecting hub world that links PlayStation games, Sony Pictures films and other Sony properties could be a winner. Though nowadays, this is already being done in games like Fortnite, which has become more of a platform for entertainment franchises.
Would there be any need for something like this now? Especially when our world is so connected through social media which, at the time of Home, was in its infancy.