PlayStation Home population at 12 million

PlayStation Home director Jack Buser kicked off Sony's final day of GDC 2010 panels, announcing that the virtual community's worldwide userbase now stands at 12 million. The population has grown by two million users since December 2009, and is double of what it was in June of last year.

Buser expanded on the stats, pointing out that these numbers aren't based on one-off visits; according to Sony's data, 85 percent of users who create a Home avatar return more than once. The average citizen, he said, spends an hour in Home each visit.

While Buser's talk was primarily aimed at developers interested in developing in-Home games, he spoke on what to expect in terms of Sony's strategy for the service in 2010, saying, "You're going to see us really embrace this idea of total game integration" to "really extend out the experience of your games." He used the Home presence of Sucker Punch's inFamous as an example, saying that we can expect to see more spaces, minigames and tie-in content timed alongside game launches this year, and that "It's an Incredibly important part of [Sony's] strategy."

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/03/13/pl...ts-12-million/