Is Home coming out next week?

I know, you’re probably as sick of hearing about Home as we are about reporting on it, especially since there hasn’t really been any news on the service for nearly a year. Still, the social networking space is a big deal for Sony, and it looks like the company may be finally, finally ready to launch the service for the PS3 community sometime next week.

According to a story from the UK’s Times Online dated Dec 7, Home is slated to release "in the next 10 days," meaning that we should be expecting the service to hit sometime between now and next Wednesday. It’s interesting that the Times should toss off a statement like that so casually, especially since Sony hasn’t ever given a specific date but only keeps confirming that they’re planning a launch before the "end of the year." Makes us think maybe they gave the Times a firm launch date but made the outlet promise not to print it in exchange for the story.

Strangely enough, Sony is actually speaking out about this story for once, instead of feeding us the old "no comment" line. Home director Jack Buser commented that, "We’ve been saying it will launch by the end of calendar year 2008, and that’s getting very, very close." He also added that "Launch is imminent," without giving any specific details on a date.

So taken together we pretty much have to assume that the "open beta" phase of Home is going to be coming your way very, very soon. Our early assumption is that you’ll be able to download Home next Wednesday, when the PSN updates arrive. Either that, or Home won’t arrive for another 5 years. One or the other.

TGR Verdict: Rumor Very Likely