A new PS5 gameplay feature in the works may have just leaked, courtesy of a newly-surfaced patent from Sony. The patent in question revealed what is essentially a "What If" feature that would allow PS5 users not only to view replays of their gameplay, but view various outcomes that would have occurred if they made a different decision. For example, if they ducked rather than dodged a swing from a boss.

"Methods and systems are provided for generating an outcome of a previous gameplay," reads an abstract of the patent. "The method includes providing access of a recording of the previous gameplay, the recording is one that was shared by a player for the previous gameplay. The method includes providing an interface that identifies one or more what-if scenarios for the previous gameplay. The one or more what-if scenarios being selected for inclusion into the interface is based on processing the recording of the previous gameplay through a machine learning model to identify what-if scenarios for the user, and options for what-if scenarios are provided to the interface."

The abstract continues: "The method includes enabling the selection of at least one of the what-if scenarios from the options. The selection causes an adjustment to metadata associated with the recording of the previous gameplay. The method includes replaying the recording that was selected using the adjusted metadata to generate the alternative outcome of the previous gameplay.

This sounds like an ambitious feature, and one that developers would have to support rather than simply be universal. Whether anything will come of this patent, remains to be seen. Sony patents a wide range of things that never come to fruition so it wouldn't be surprising if this never graduates past the conceptual stage. Meanwhile, if it does, there's no guarantee it will be via the PS5.



Posted: Jul 12, 2022 12:02 pm
Related Forum: PlayStation Forum

Source: https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/ps5-playstation-5-console-gameplay-feature/