Sony’s Director of PlayStation Network Eric Lempel has said that PlayStation Home’s upcoming open beta is still on schedule for release this fall, assuring consumers that its release will offer a “fully robust service.”
“The Home open beta is still on schedule for release later this fall,” said Lempel, during an interview with Next-Gen.biz
Despite numerous delays, Lempel was keen to point out that the open beta would be worth the wait, offering consumers a “fair” representation of the forthcoming online social networking platform.
Speaking in direct reference to Sony’s Susan Panico, who suggested that Home’s “rollout will be similar to Gmail,” and thus function as an "open, working beta,” Lempel asserted that Home’s public form would not merely function as a “0.5 release.”
“If you think about Gmail and Susan’s reference, Gmail when it launched in beta was a fully functional email service. I personally was using it and it offered everything you’d expect, but was in beta just to say that there’s more to come and maybe it’s not fully polished,” he said.
“The reason we’ve been delaying [Home] is so that we can deliver a high quality service that the users will enjoy. Even though it will be in beta, it will be a fair representation of what the service can be and its potential, so it won’t be a 0.5 release, it will be a fully robust service.”
Elsewhere, he also addressed the subject of Sony’s planned movie download service for PSN, though did not divulge any specific details in regards to a release date or pricing.
“I don’t have any more specifics right now, but like Kaz [Hirai] said, it will go live [in the US] this summer and I think it will offer consumers everything they’re looking for from us. It will offer everything they expect from us and probably a little bit more,” he offered.
Stay tuned.