One of the latest patents filed by Sony intends to facilitate secret communication between players in multiplayer titles through systems that observe the actions of two groups. As multiplayer gaming has blown up in popularity over the years, teammates have communicated in a variety of ways from proximity chat to third-party apps like Discord, but Sony may have another way to bridge the gap now.

The secret player communication patent from Sony has systems that may ultimately train artificial intelligence to recognize different gestures from one player to predict the possible actions of a second player. As multiplayer gaming has evolved, features like rebooting have replaced respawning in games such as Fortnite and Apex Legends, while the pinging system introduced with the latter revolutionized how teammates communicate non-verbally. Potentially getting ready to take the next step in this method of players working together in games, Sony's new patent could be the latest multiplayer advancement.

According to the filed Sony patent, the systems will primarily gather data on gestures made between two groups of players and the actions the other players take in response to this using an image camera. Using this model, the Sony systems could then generate a recommendation to one group of players without the other group having to enter an input. This inference of communication versus a verbal link between players can go even further based on this patent to generate even more responses based on the movements and actions of the two groups of players.



Sony suggests that the trained communication AI will eventually be able to make predictions on what players will do in a game after observing and mirroring a large sample group. The AI will use its data to calculate the probability of player actions with a processor and memory device that combine to comb through all the possible actions. Because this Sony patent was among others that were only recently filed, it's currently unclear when PlayStation multiplayer fans will be able to experience the secret communication tool that's being worked on.

Although teaming is normally a bad thing in battle royale's like Fortnite or PUBG because of the potential end-game implications, titles such as Battlefield 2042, Call of Duty, Destiny 2, and more could benefit from the changes that Sony is developing. While the secret communications tool may be used in less competitive games like Minecraft or Forza Horizon 5 when it's implemented, it's unlikely that ranked multiplayer will be impacted by the changes very much if at all.



Posted: Nov 29, 2022 1:56 am
Related Forum: PlayStation Forum

Source: https://gamerant.com/sony-patent-system-secret-communication-between-players/