Sony, Home, and the Beta Tag

[vlad321]

S.T.A.G.E. said:

vlad321 said:

S.T.A.G.E. said:

vlad321 said:

S.T.A.G.E. said:

vlad321 said:

Sony Clarifies Home's 'Open Beta'

The "social gaming community" will apparently stay in open beta for "some time."

By Kyle Stallock, 12/31/2008

Since the release of Sony's Home earlier this month, many question the reason for the "open beta" descriptor and how long it will remain. According to Jack Buser, director of Home, in a Kotaku video podcast (via Shacknews), the service may remain in "open beta" indefinitely, saying another phase of its existence is to be determined.

Addressing why it's still in open beta, Buser says,

 

"Open beta" is "sort of synonymous with our idea of launch, in that we really want to emphasize that what you see in Home on any particular day is subject to change. Home is a living, breathing, evolving, growing platform."

In other words, if something goes wrong, they can always point a finger and say "hey, open beta." Besides, it's not like the development state has prevented Sony from selling virtual goods like "hotcakes."

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People who are hoping for an actual release can now rest calmly, what you have right now is what it will be. Yes it will change over time but this is the release, there won't be another major release than this. It will be jsut updates and additions to what is already there.

 

 Sony needs to start charging for Home.

 

And if they do that it will go from slight failure to complete and utter failure and waste of 4 years of development.

Actually no. Proper funding would speed up the process and pave the way for newer updates for home. The only loss would be users, because it wouldn't be free. If they want it to be free, get ready for a slow process. Sony is at the point where it's beyond giving blood to the masses. I'm not saying charing a premium is the best thing to do at all times, however Sony needs it badly.

 

 

The problem is that if they start charging, the population of Home will drop to somewhere VERY close to 0, therefore they'd be losing even more people. They wouldn't make money, they'd only lose even more.

Home's userbase wouldn't drop to 0 if Sony would add some value to Home (Even at now, some people would find home to be worth paying for). Home was sold as something greater than what it actually turned out to be. These users are easier to turn into customers and gather profit from.

 

They'd have to charge hell of a lot of money to make it worth their time considering the exodus that will follow when they start charging. The only saving grace right now for home is FREE!, meaning you don't have to pay for it. The amount of people who leave if you even start charging a few dollars will be amazing, I dare say 90-95% of the current peopulation, which is already small to begin with.