It’s probably (almost certainly) nothing, but Sony Interactive Entertainment recently renewed the trademark for PlayStation Home and, naturally, we’re all wondering what that could mean for PSVR 2.
PlayStation Home was basically Sony’s take on a virtual hub for social interaction long before the days of Rec Room and VRChat. Launched on the PS3, it allowed friends to meet up in different spaces, dress as their favorite game characters, collect items for personal rooms and visit limited-time events like one mirroring the company’s E3 booth that ran during the show.
PlayStation Home Trademark Renewed
But, while ambitious, Home failed to really capture the kind of sizable audience that Sony likely envisioned, and it was shut down around a year after the launch of the PS4 (which never got its own version of Home).
As spotted on ResetEra this week, though, Sony renewed the trademark on April 23rd, lasting through until 2028. Of course, companies refresh trademarks for unused and long-dead products all the time as it protects them from others using the name or if they want to revisit the idea later down the line. Were this a new trademark like, say PlayStation Home VR, we might be a little more confident this was a sign the service was coming back.
When PSVR released back in 2016, there was a lot of talk about how Home could have been Sony’s answer to the growing popularity of new social VR applications. It could have also made for a great user interface for PSVR as a whole – a place to launch games or play traditional ones on a virtual screen in the comfort of your custom environment. Instead we ended up operating PSVR via the usual PS4 menu on a virtual screen floating in the darkness.
With a new VR headsets now confirmed for PS5, it does again seem like the Home name would fit quite well. It’s not due for release until 2022 at the earliest, however, so it’ll be a while until we hear about Sony’s plans yet.
What do you make of Sony renewing the PlayStation Home trademark? Do you think it will amount to anything? Let us know in the comments below!
