http://news.softpedia.com/news/PlayStation-Home-Is-Focused-On-the-Community-Not-On-Profit-113299.shtml

Online services are quite important these days for consoles as almost every gamer who wants either an Xbox 360, a Nintendo Wii or a PlayStation 3 intends to connect it to the Internet and start interacting with their friends and family. That's why online services such as Xbox Live or the PlayStation Network are so popular. But Sony decided to go on the offense in this type of service and released PlayStation Home, a dedicated social network for all PlayStation 3 users around the world.

But Home isn't about making money, says Peter Edward, the director of the service, but about the community, as he recently spoke to GamesIndustry. He went on to reveal that people needed to experience the great things about the service and that the money would arrive seamlessly.

“Our belief is that if you make the community happy, and get good content on to the platform, if you get a platform that people want to keep coming back to, then the monetisation aspect of it will almost take care of itself. It's certainly not something that should be the driving force, not something that's the driving priority at this stage of development. We have to focus on making sure we're giving the community what they want, and making sure the platform itself is sufficiently capable and robust, and that the content is there. That's definitely our priority.”

So, it seems that Home users aren't being exploited by Sony for their money, as they are the main reason new things are coming to the online service every week. Are you pleased with PlayStation Home? Or do you think that it needs more features and spaces, even if they are branded with real life companies?

just like ps3.

I guess if you really like it you'll end up spending money there... but the grand scheme of things is of course profit.

I imagine it would be pretty bad PR to state out loud that HOME is all about the money, when the "message" of HOME is all about the community

Say that to Facebook! They've hardly made a cent!

We all know what idea Gebx is trying to convery but as Rainbird rightly put it , it's a PR move and a pretty obvious one at that. They aren't gonna say "we're milkin 'em for every penny"

come on man your gonna have to try harder than that.

I love Home. It is a free peice of software that grows every week giving me games, and new experiances. It is a great place to meet new people on the Playstation network, in a way that meeting in Killzone 2, or Call of Duty just can't match. Right now it may not be for everyone, but that is the goal, and Sony I think are well on their way. We just got photo sharing, and music and videos will come in due time. As more and more games allow for launching out of Home the service will only become more relevent, and the best part is no matter how much someone hates it they have no right to gripe. If you don't like Home, every feature in Home can be accessed right from the XMB.

What I would still really like to see is developers take things to another level. Lets take Gran Turismo 5 for example. This would be a perfect game to just make the Home space the online interface. In fact it fits perfect into the human element part that Polyphony has been pushing so hard since 4. They could have a space with multiple differant vibes going on, similar to the way GT5:P displays its garage's. Within that space you could meet up with people from a tournement, create a race, or just hope into a randomized race. Additionaly, you could check out all the new GT5 contentr before you buy it at a GT shop located in the space. The shop would also include all kinds of GT styled apparel for sale. This way fans could get a GT clock, GT jacxket, hat, shirt, ect. IMOI these are the types of things that are very cool, but just feel out of place in a game, buyt in Home something like this makes perfect sense. Home spaces IMO should be like dedicate shops that build a community around a game, interact with the game, and bring the game to life through apparel, and accessories.

home is the best thing since slice bread. home gets better and better as time goes by. When home launched, it was okay. there wasnt a lot to do but know home has been getting great home spaces and launch gaming. I can't wait until they start putting more mini-games. I made a lot of friends in home.

Unless Sony is looking to have ALL game content on the PS3 to be based off Home, and having people live in there who have PS3, the more people go into Home, the less time they are spending playing games via other formats. Home is cool in theory, but it ends up canibalizing other areas.

Thats so false! Sliced bread was awesome from the day it was invented, home is like sliced cheese. The first sliced cheese went off quickly and it was heavily processed, but they have improved it substantially with time.