Sony exec: PlayStation Home is "not a priority right now"

There may still be "a lot" of avatars wandering around the PS3's virtual world, but according to at least one Sony exec, PlayStation Home (which is still in beta, by the way) simply "isn't a priority right now."

Edge Online (via Kotaku) reports that the comments came during the London Games Conference earlier this week. During the conference, Sony's European director of PlayStation Home, Pete Edwards, reportedly said that plenty of PS3ers are, indeed, still spending time—and money, in the form of microtransactions for clothing, furniture, and other doodads for their avatars—in Home.

But while "we've proved there is a market out there and we've got a lot of people that spend a lot of time in [Home]," the service is "not a priority right now," Edwards said (according to Edge Online).

Now, we should probably allow for the fact that Edwards' comment has been plucked out of context; after all, maybe he simply meant (as Kotaku suggests) that Home isn't at the top of the list as far as Sony's spending or strategic priorities go. And it's not like Edwards said Home is in any kind of danger—indeed, new Home spaces seem to be opening up fairly regularly.

I have to admit that it's been several months since I checked into Home myself, so I jumped back in this morning to see if I was missing anything. I arrived in my private "Harbor Studio" space, with all my minimalist furniture piled into a corner, right where I'd left it. Hey, that's what happens when there's no TV to watch.

Next, I navigated into the new Tekken 6 space, where you can stand in a virtual auditorium with other avatars and watch videos about, well, Tekken 6. That got old quickly, so I popped into the new Gamers' Lounge, a "cafe space" for gamers to "hang out, chat, socialize, and attend special events." Basically, it's a split-level space with tables and chair below and a couple of vacant conference rooms above. Now we're talking fun, huh? At least Red Bull's Home space lets you buzz your fellow avatars in a turboprop.

So no ... still not much to do in Home, although there are now more places in which you can not do much.

Well, that's how I see it, at least. What do you think, PS3 gamers: When was the last time you went Home? Any Home fans out there care to set me straight? (C'mon, I know you're out there.) And is Sony right to (apparently, anyway) put its PS3 priorities (whether they be developmental, financial, or otherwise) elsewhere?

Update: PlayStation exec Jack Buser, Edwards' counterpart in the U.S., has responded on Kotaku, saying that "Home is absolutely a priority for the PlayStation 3, PSN, and SCEA." You can read his entire statement right here.

Related:
PlayStation Home Not A Business Priority [Edge Online, via Kotaku]