Sony Banking on "Less is More" with PS3 Home

Sony Online Entertainment's virtual world Home was launched a few months ago as a social hub. While anticipation was initially high, there was almost an immediate sense of disillusionment among veteran virtual world users as they discovered there wasn't much you could do there.

In a recent interview with Peter Edwards, Home's executive producer, it was revealed that avatar customization has been locked down on purpose to maintain a specific art direction:

[...] outlandish, non-human avatars definitely won't be a feature of PS3's ambitious online space. "It's not the Home ethic," Edwards told Official PlayStation Magazine. "If everyone's walking around dressed as orcs or stormtroopers or whatever, then you lose that welcoming, accessible element that means Mum, Dad and your sister might get involved as well. The idea is to keep it as accessible, mainstream and friendly as possible."

Only time will tell if this pays off, but today's annouced layoffs at Sony Computer Entertainment of America aren't exactly inspiring confidence. The PS3's install base is still very low, so it's difficult to say how successful the idea of limiting a customer's options can be. We'll have to wait until more PS3's have been sold before we can really come to a final verdict.