In case you missed it, Sony announced their first official corporate partner in Home – and it’s none other than Red Bull. For the uninitiated, Home is Sony’s oft-delayed avatar based virtual world that (theoretically) connects every PS3 owner, so they can meet up, chat, and play together.
It’s not the worst idea ever, but I’m not entirely sure all the infrastructure and planning will be worth it in the end. I can’t imagine anyone buying a PS3 exclusively to get access to Home, and Second Life already showed us just how fickle tastes can be when it comes to virtual real estate. Sony definitely needs a more cohesive, end-to-end online environment to even have a shot at Xbox Live. No argument there. But will the audience really want to commit so much time to non-gaming during their gaming sessions?
Red Bull’s no stranger to edgy marketing tactics, and I honestly hope this venture proves as worthwhile to them as Flugtag and their other experimental pursuits. We’ll see…
Nice article!