7 million move into PlayStation Home - Report

On Tuesday, Sony Computer Entertainment said that the PlayStation Network user base had broached the 25-million-member mark, having gained a solid 1 million users since the Electronic Entertainment Expo earlier this month. As part of the GameHorizon conference in Newcastle, UK, today, Peter Edward, Sony Europe's director of PlayStation Home confirmed, that the PlayStation 3's online social hub has seen a growth spurt of its own in the weeks since E3.

As reported by Gamasutra, Edward said that Home's user base stands at 7 million worldwide, with 3 million located in Europe specifically. That figure represents a 500,000 user increase since Sony's E3 2009 press conference earlier this month, when the publisher said the online portal had 6.5 million users.

Edward reportedly went on to note that the 7 million Home residents had downloaded some 6 million items, with the average user spending 56 minutes exploring the virtual world. He also said that 80 percent of Home's population consists of males aged 18 to 35.

After talking up the advertising potential of such promotional tools as Red Bull's free Air Race game, Edward reportedly went on to note that Home isn't merely a new way to generate money.

"For Sony, revenue isn't the main driver for Home," he reportedly said. "We're in this for the long term. Home is the starting point for PlayStation 3 online, and that's something that gamers are going to expect as more games support Game Launch from within Home."

Available to PS3 owners since December, the avatar-based virtual world/game matchmaking service remains in an open beta-testing phase.