PlayStation Home, originally named 'Hub', started as "The Getaway Online" for the PlayStation 2. However, this project was never completed before release of the PS3, at which point the developers began porting code to the new platform. Phil Harrison, the then president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, liked the idea of having a virtual 3D community hub for PlayStation gamers, and transferred the project to be PlayStation Home. However, the project was kept under high secrecy.
An online-based service had been the subject of speculation since the launch of the PlayStation Network. Sony had expressed interest in such a system, specifically the achievements, for first-party titles, though they never released any specific information regarding it. PlayStation Home, as a feature, was first publicly mentioned in an interview with NG-Gamer, detailed by Kotaku and finally confirmed by NG-Gamer. It was officially announced by Phil Harrison on Wednesday March 7, 2007, during his keynote speech at the 2007 Game Developers Conference and was originally scheduled for a global public release in September or October 2007
During the Tokyo Game Show 2007, Home's full release was announced to be delayed until "Spring 2008". On 21 April 2008 Sony Computer Entertainment announced that Home would be delayed further and the closed beta would be extended until "Fall 2008". However it was confirmed that more PlayStation Network users would be invited to join the closed beta during this time. An announcement on the Official PlayStation Europe user forum confirmed that invitations to the closed beta would be offered to winners of a weekly Warhawk online gaming event. Kazuo Hirai, President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, said that "Spending more time on the development and on the Closed Beta testing reaffirms our commitment to bringing a quality service, maintaining the PlayStation tradition