In an interview published on CVG SCEE’s David Reeves has confirmed that Home, the much delayed and still cruelly locked down avatar-based network ‘game’ is ‘definitely coming out in autumn. Whether that’s October or November, I don’t precisely know, but it is an open beta.‘
‘We’ve realised that maybe we were too ambitious with the non-gaming applications within Home, getting sponsors and stuff like that,‘ he said. ‘In that sense we were deserting gamers. So, we’re concentrating on the gaming by launching games in Home, and attracting people who are into gaming in first – instead of the Nike people, or Adidas people who are into fashion and not necessarily into gaming.‘
Worryingly, he’s also thinking like Nintendo did with the N64: ‘We did Buzz, we’re doing LittleBigPlanet, Killzone, and there are obviously others that we’re developing. We’re becoming less dependent on third parties.‘ Not a phrase we’re comfortable hearing, but let’s hope he’s not assuming the PS3 will survive on first party titles alone…