Sony confirms PlayStation Home closure

September 29, 2014 | 11:23

Tags: #mmo #playstation-3 #playstation-home #ps3 #scea #second-life

Companies: #sony

Sony has announced that it is to kill off its PlayStation Home service, launched back in 2008, in March next year with new content being blocked from the service by November this year.

Sony announced PlayStation Home back in 2007 as its attempt at a first-party Second Life-style virtual world for the PlayStation 3. In it, the company claimed, players would be able to socialise and also to attend 'events' ranging from game launches to film showings. Its launch was delayed several times, with PlayStation competitor Microsoft claiming it had underestimated the difficulty of the project. It finally launched in December 2008, and was immediately lambasted by Microsoft as '2005 tech in 2008.'

Sony would later admit missteps with the project, starting with claims it was announced too early, but continue to add new features to the platform throughout the life of the PS3. Its popularity, however, never hit the highs for which Sony had hoped, and now the company is finally admitting defeat on the project.

In an announcement on the PlayStation blog, Sony senior community manager Paul Sullivan has confirmed that PlayStation Home is to be shuttered on the 31st of March 2015. Prior to this date, the system will be wound down by blocking the publishing of new content on the 12th of November and blocking downloads of new content on the 3rd of December this year. Sullivan has, however, claimed that Sony plans to release a selection of free content packs for the service, giving those who did use PlayStation Home a send-off before the full closure of the platform.

Blaming the move on a 'shifting landscape,' Sullivan concluded with the message that SCEA would 'like to thank all of our fans for their support of the PlayStation Home platform over the years.'
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