Today’s the day: After nearly seven years, Sony is shutting down its PlayStation Home virtual world for good.
The writing’s been on the wall for some time, as Sony announced plans to stop publishing new content for the service last year ahead of a full-blown global shutdown “due to a shifting [market] landscape” at midnight tonight — 12 AM Pacific, April 1st to be exact.
Launched in 2008 by Sony as a major “virtual world” initiative, PlayStation Home proved to be a profitable venture for select developers like nDreams, who thrived while selling PlayStation Home mini-games and downloadable content like avatar clothing, virtual apartments and more.
But over time those developers turned away from Home; nDreams CEO Patrick O’Luanaigh told Gamasutra in a recent interview that his company began funneling the money it was earning on Home content towards virtual reality game R&D some time ago, and nDreams has now pivoted away from Home to focus on VR development full-time.
If you’re curious, a Sony representative has posted the planned shutdown time for Home across various regions over on the European PlayStation Home forum.