Home brings in $1m in virtual goods, user-generated content the 'goal'

by Christopher Grant on Jan 9th 2009 12:03PM

Not content with spending your real Earth bucks on a virtual tankini for your Quincy? Considering Sony has reportedly sold "one million dollars worth of virtual goods" through the still-in-beta PlayStation Home service, that would seemingly put you in the (more frugal, smarter) minority, but perhaps you could take out some virtual needle and thread and make your own, according to Develop Magazine.

Revealed in a two-part interview with Home's lead programmer, Mitch Goodwin, news of user-generated content – while far from a revelation – sends the fledgling service even further into Second Life territory. But what about keeping Home a safe place for the family to wait in a line to virtually bowl? Goodwin concedes, "Obviously we're not naive, and we know that with an online service you have to have strict moderation – we don't want the user to be exposed to rubbish." Of course, by "rubbish" he means "flying penises." Also, speaking of being "not naive" – we wouldn't expect user-generated content to be free ... to purchase, or to make.

Source – User-generated content is the 'ultimate goal', says Home team
Source – PS3 and PSP Userbase Climbs Over 61m

Tags: Home, PS3, UGC

Reader Comments (92)

I think they should start selling real products in home.. sony TV's, cellphones, music players and stuff that get shipped to your door. Enough people shop online anyways so whats to stop them from doing it through home?

So I'm assuming everyone here who call these people "sad and pathetic" for spending 99 cents to a few bucks on virtual items, have never bought ANY DLC. I mean that would only make sense. Who would spend money, apparently only the sad and pathetic, on horse armor? Or new levels? Or new characters? For the amount of money Sony and MS pull in on DLC, there sure is a lot of "Not Me's".

People who purchased virtual goods in Home = People who spend time in Home = Sad and pathetic people

New Levels, Yes, New Characters? No... Horse Armor? Hell no. The horse armor was stupid and everyone said that immediately.

The difference here is it's ALL "horse armor" the whole thing is cosmetic and stupid.

This is the same market of people who pay money for "sparkleys" to put on their myspace pages...

A.K.A. Idiots.

"the difference here is it's ALL "horse armor"

Consider the hammer to have fulfilled its destiny with the nail.

When do I get to put some money down that enables me to take my shirt off and run around like a lunatic?

Sony are totally missing a niche here. Those of us who don't want to wear ANY clothes.

*goes back to naked gaming*

i guess sony learned from the EQ days that people are willing to pay for virtual goods and are ahead this time. people pay for others to play games for them and get rare items. if i hadn't gotten in to closed beta i would have dropped 50 cent for the rubber duck

screw the Stormhammer.

SH server = downfall of humanity.

lots of retardedly retarded retards out there i guess.

way to support the worst dlc scheme in history kids. shame on you.

Reading that made me feel retarded.

Made me want to whip something.

Or get whipped. I'm not entirely sure what this feeling is.

Let me help you out with your newly discovered emotion:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinky

Reading "retardedly retarded retards" made me feel kinky?

I've been on the internet too long.

Or perhaps the INTERNET has been under YOU for too long.

Think about it....

Have you thought about it?

Well you didn't give me much time to ponder it.

Sorry Zertoss.

That's just how I roll.

Esat Dedezade you are in a fucking roll today.

+1.

Thanks dude. I wish I was getting paid for this. Sometimes I think about starting my own blog, full of my random musings.

To tell the truth, when I was 3 years younger (12) I loved an MMO called Maple Story. In that MMO, you can buy virtual clothing (and various other superficial effects) with real money to make your character more unique then the others. Even though those items expire in 90 days, I still wasted about 50$ on those.

Now I am wiser and I would never pay for something that useless, especially if it expires.

I think the people that are buying this stuff, is the same people who were buying Diablo II items from me on eBay. Humans are awesome.

Yeah, I have a friend who sold his first WoW character for like $800, back before eBay made it illegal to do so.

Nothin' finer than fleecin' the flock.

$1 million? Jeez, Sony is actually gonna think this was a good idea. lol I can't believe so many people bought that stuff!

Well, if they made a million dollars, that means it WAS a good idea. Sure, they'll be laughed at, but wouldn't you be laughed at for a million dollars?

Considering how long HOME has been in development, I'm guessing that $1 Mil isn't nearly enough to cover their R&D costs.

Business wise, yeah it was a good idea. But in terms of gaming? Then hell yeah I'm gonna laugh at them.

True, it probably didn't cover costs, but it is also likely that when a company makes a million dollars so quickly, more money is sure to follow.

There sure is a lot of "I'm holier then thou" posts in this thread. Who the fuck are we to decide which pixels are entertaining to people? We call them useless and retarded yet we come to these sites arguing about which console is better every day. Isn't that useless and retarded? Isn't that "sad and pathetic"?

Yup.

Silly Kodros, catch up, we do it because it makes us feel better about the pointless purchases we made as well :D And the silly fanboy arguments some people spend half their life doing on each and every gaming related site :D

If you know you've spent a stupid amount of money to play XBL online, or to buy a PS3 or to get more controllers to bring your other gaming nerd mates to come round and play games with you, you're bound to insult others for things as it makes you feel better about how are, and makes you feel less of a penis or geek to be blunt :D

Thats the way the gaming world works, and so it shall remain, lmao

Heck, half the time the terms 'you need to get laid' or 'Go outside and get some air' are used by people who do none of the two but it makes them feel cooler :D

Man, that's insane... 1million in, what?, 2-3 weeks? I'm sure most of that is from buying the Christmas costumes though.

1 million Bucks ... Very Impressive for a beta.... Now about adding more games to the System please....
Naa just kidding the PS3 is getting better all of the time and this just shows that it appeals to Girls..Ahem I mean all kinds of people..;-)

I will have to admit I didn't buy the horse armor in Oblivion... But I purchased all the other Crap for it on my 360.

Sony already has a penis-free system for user-generated content. It's called "LittleBigPlanet".

You forgot Micro and Nintendo :D And pretty much every company in the world.

Don't act like you're an angel :) You're a fanboy who'd buy a lump of coal too, just not from Sony.

Wow. What are people buying? Hats and mustache rides?

mustache rides are free

FINALLY!

I highly doubt I'm going to get something in Home anytime because i dont need clothes in Home.

And when Sony releases those Bravia branded tv's...and stereos and stuff, i'll probably get that because right now, the personal space is boring.

And the public voice chat needs to be put back in pronto, griefers can be muted. We don't need to get "punished" for them because talking is how i meet new people on home and not typing

Dear Lord...

The current prices for the premium goods in Home are too high. The Ligne Roset and Diesel stuff are $1.99 a pop. That's ridiculous. I can see paying 49 cents like the initial batch of offerings from PSN. But $1.99? No way!

I find it positively hilarious that Sony has made over a mil in digital clothes... and Microsoft has only charged those who bought a Ninja Blade theme and avatar bundle.

OMG, teh ev!l croperationz1 iz b;eediomg us dri!

Previous 50 Comments

Home brings in $1m in virtual goods, user-generated content the 'goal'

Reader Comments (92)

Posted: Jan 9th 2009 12:30PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 9th 2009 12:33PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 9th 2009 12:47PM butaneko said

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Posted: Jan 9th 2009 1:24PM Dirty said

Posted: Jan 9th 2009 1:36PM Zertoss said

Posted: Jan 9th 2009 1:43PM Esat Dedezade said

Posted: Jan 9th 2009 2:11PM Zertoss said

Posted: Jan 9th 2009 2:21PM Esat Dedezade said

Posted: Jan 9th 2009 2:21PM Esat Dedezade said

Posted: Jan 9th 2009 2:25PM Zertoss said

Posted: Jan 9th 2009 3:10PM Esat Dedezade said

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Posted: Jan 9th 2009 8:56PM Esat Dedezade said

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Posted: Jan 9th 2009 1:51PM Kodros said

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Posted: Jan 9th 2009 2:31PM Spunky Monkey 190906 said

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