Sony's DevStation Focuses On Home

Technology, innovation and creativity were the buzzwords at Sony Europe's developer-focused DevStation event, held in London last week. The three day conference provided the opportunity for over 450 European developers to get a heads up about Sony's future strategy and tools support for PlayStation 3 and PSP, as well as the fastmoving PlayStation Network and Home online services. It follows on from similar events held in Japan and the US. "We're breaking [into] a new business, much as we did with the first PlayStation," said Michael Denny, VP of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, Europe, who keynoted the event. "We used to be predominantly a single platform publisher, but now with PlayStation 3, PSP and PlayStation 2, we're truly a multiplatform publisher with a mix of products and services that appeal to a wide range of tastes, lifestyles and budgets.” Many of the talks concentrated on Sony's roadmap for delivering features and support for Home, the 3D lobby, community and matchmaking space that's being built on top of the PlayStation Network layer. "With Home, we are having to manage a much more sophisticated business and that's exciting and pioneering. It's great to be given the opportunity at DevStation to stand up and inspire our valued third party partners to join us," Denny explained. Having just entered its closed beta phase, and due to go live in the fall, Home is clearly a priority for Sony. Some publishers are already in discussions to be launch partners, while the first generation of Home content creation tools will start being rolled out to developers later this month. And for that reason, Home is carving out its own place within Sony’s corporate structure too. Home Platform teams have been set up in Europe, America and Japan to focus local efforts, although much of the core technology development is still being carried out by Sony's London studio.