While virtually every gaming company strives to patent a potentially industry-defining idea in advance, none of them has been as prolific as Sony lately. Over the past couple of weeks and months, the company has presented a whole bunch of unique patents, and although most of them are relatively uninteresting to the average player, others can really make a splash.
One of these potentially promising Sony patents was introduced quite recently, and it refers to a special feature that will allow streamers and their viewers to interact with the scale of the game they are playing and watching accordingly. According to the list under consideration, the so-called “assistant mode”, in fact, will allow viewers to help players in real time.
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According to the patent description, Sony’s idea of a “help mode” will support a number of unique implementations that would seem to differ from one game to another. In some cases, this may mean extracting certain metadata from the game, while in others it may rely on special tools provided by the developer that will match streamers and viewers, possibly using a cloud gaming solution. This list may even refer to Sony’s patent for tracking player interactions, which is designed to be used in real time to combat harassment and abuse.
Many descriptions of the use of Sony functions mention, in particular, the use of machine learning algorithms to facilitate inter-service interaction. With the company now seemingly fully committed to expanding PlayStation’s PC gaming service offerings, investing in cutting-edge streaming technology seems like an obvious step forward. Moreover, Sony seems to think outside the box with such broad generalized lists of patents that would allow them to really dominate the niche if the functions were performed correctly.
It is worth noting that Sony intends to move the industry forward without complicating interaction with its advanced releases for casual players. In fact, Sony has recently patented a hardware explanation of functions that can significantly improve the familiarity of players with new gaming equipment. Moreover, it could open up the industry to even more gamers who may not have had the opportunity to explore the various gaming tropes relevant today.
Naturally, not every modern Sony patent is aimed at significantly moving the industry forward. For example, Sony recently published a patent for the PS5 faceplate, which was nothing more than a simple and understandable way for the company to stop copycats. On top of that, it remains to be seen what, if anything, will come out of Sony’s recent patent listings. Even in the best case, it may take months or years before the first developments are shown to a wide audience, which will suspend any potential hype for a while.
