Another virtual world ends, but only for Japan.
Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. has announced that it will be shutting down PlayStation Home in its home country of Japan this coming March.
A Google Translation of the Japanese announcement also seems to indicate that Sony will no longer sell virtual goods in Japan starting in September. The announcement also mentions a huge online event to mark the end of Home for users in Japan.
Sony has been providing access to the 3D virtual world for free on PlayStation 3 since it launched in beta on December 2008. SCEI has not announced if or when Home will cease operation in other countries.
Though Sony doesn't charge for Home, there are virtual goods to be purchased, including clothing for your avatar and furnishings for your virtual house. PlayStation Home also has a lot of third-party support, with a variety of locations and mini-games provided free of charge, as well as virtual goods for sale.
Home has also served as a marketing channel for PlayStation games, from Sony and from third-party publishers. Some of the biggest titles of the year would get their own places to visit virtually, where you could watch trailers, chat with other fans and play mini-games devoted to that title.
PlayStation Home has a reputation for being for an obsessed few who wanted a place for cyber chatting and to explore virtual worlds, akin to Second Life, and not for the larger group of PlayStation owners. One can imagine in certain countries the small audience may not bring in enough revenue to justify the cost of operating Home servers for that country.
At the same time, PlayStation Home may soon have a resurgence. With Sony creating virtual reality headset Project Morpheus, likely to be released in 2015 or 2016, a virtual world like PlayStation Home would be the perfect showcase for the technology and a place to offer little VR demos and experiences. Perhaps the shutdown in Japan is simply the start to a retooling of Home for PlayStation 4 and its upcoming VR platform.
