It appears that PlayStation Home is experiencing some modifications to the engine as well as name renewals made by Sony.
We previously mentioned that there’s been a couple of reports floating around this year which indicate Sony might be planning to do something regarding PlayStation Home. In April, the public spotted that the trademark for PlayStation Home had been renewedsparking hopes that the service might be re-launched. The trademark used for SoHo Engine was also renewed, which is the same one that PS Home used.
In a similar fashion, Sony has officially registered the PS Home trademark today. This marks three times that PS Home has been mentioned in the series in just a short period of time. It’s possible that Sony might have some plans for its soon-to-be-defunct live service.
This news was once again spotted by Thorites over on the subreddit r/GamingLeaksAndRumours. There’s been plenty happening with the IP recently, many in the comments feel confident hypothesizing that Sony plans to launch its own competition to VR chat. This makes sense considering the popularity of PS Home’svirtual gaming hangouts. There are theories that suggest that the new PS Home will host virtual performances, in the same way as Fortnite.
PS Home launched on PS3 in 2008, but was eventually closed by Sony in 2015. It didn’t achieve mainstream success, but it has an avid following. There’s even a campaign on Twitter dubbed “Return Home PS5” by a small portion of its fans.
These rumours have been disregarded by others before because it is common to renew trademarksthat are not used. This is to protect the brand, and prevent other companies from using the PlayStation Home name. It’s becoming more likely the cult favorite will return in some capacity, as the trademark renewed two times in the last few months.