According to some digital buyers, Home exemplifies Sony’s slow-footed nature when it comes to embracing advertising. Though many champion Microsoft’s Xbox Live as a platform that delivers true media convergence while providing numerous attractive ad opportunities, Sony’s equivalent PlayStation Network is seen as lagging. That’s probably driven by the companies’ disparate heritages. “Microsoft has MSN,” said Jon Epstein, CEO of in-game ad firm DoubleFusion. “They are much more of a media company than Sony has traditionally been.”

“From moment one, it kind of felt clunky,” said John Rafferty, creative director at Publicis’ Denuo. “And once you got through that, there wasn’t much there.”