An upcoming PS5 exclusive could be a weird, defunct PS3 app

(Image credit: Sony)

Sony has renewed the trademark for PlayStation Home, its own form of social network that debuted on the PS3. While its initial run faded into obscurity and was shut down soon after the PS4’s launch, the renewed trademark has brought the Sony’s social network experiment back into the conversation.

Reported by UploadVR, based on findings by Resetera users, the trademark could be a sign of absolutely nothing (companies often renew trademarks purely as a form of protection), but the possibility of a PS5 version of PlayStation Home is an enticing prospect, especially when thinking about potential compatibility with the upcoming PSVR 2 headset.

While a PSVR 2 PlayStation Home for PS5 consoles could represent a surprise resurrection for the social platform, there’s no mention of VR in the trademark renewal, and a revamped PlayStation Home is still far from confirmed at this point.

Virtual Self

PlayStation Home may originally have been slightly ahead of (or before, depending on your perspective) its time. It was poised as a social media platform for consoles, complete with virtual 3D avatars, rooms and activities similar to what PC programs like Second Life were achieving at the time. This was also long before the advent of VRChat and Rec Room that popularized the social VR space.

Now that virtual reality platforms are more popular than ever, though, we can easily imagine PlayStation Home on PS5 as a VR console alternative to Rec Room and VRChat, both of which are exclusive to PC and allows users to customize their avatars and play games in user-created rooms.

There’s certainly a gap in the market for a console-based social platform, especially one that’s VR compatible, but as we saw with the original PS3 PlayStation Home, what sounds like a good idea might not necessarily be that in practice. Still, we’d love to see Sony resurrect PlayStation Home for a second, VR-based try.

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Rhys is TRG's Hardware Editor, and has been part of the TechRadar team for more than two years. Particularly passionate about high-quality third-party controllers and headsets, as well as the latest and greatest in fight sticks and VR, Rhys strives to provide easy-to-read, informative coverage on gaming hardware of all kinds. As for the games themselves, Rhys is especially keen on fighting and racing games, as well as soulslikes and RPGs.