PlayStation Home audience hits 12 million
85% of visitors return to virtual world, as population doubles since June 2009
The worldwide userbase for the PlayStation Home virtual world now stands at 12 million users, according to comments made by Sony's Jack Buser.
Speaking at the recently concluded Game Developers Conference, as reported by website Joystiq, Home director Buser indicated that the total population had increased by two million since December 2009 and had doubled since June 2009.
Rather than being merely one-off visits Buser claimed that 85 per cent of users that created an avatar for Home returned for at least a second visit. On average each user was said to spend "hours" during each visit.
While discussing Sony's future plans for the service Buser indicated that, "You're going to see us really embrace this idea of total game integration" with retail products.
Buser used promotions for PlayStation 3 exclusive inFamous as an example of what Sony would be aiming for with other titles, with a dedicated Home space, mini-games and tie-in content.
"It's an incredibly important part of [Sony's] strategy," said Buser.