A recently discovered patent held by Sony may have just revealed a new gameplay element that is currently being developed for the PlayStation 5 (PS5). The relevant patent disclosed what is basically a “What If” function, which would provide users of the PlayStation 5 the ability to not only examine replays of their gaming but also view a variety of outcomes that might have happened if they had made a different choice throughout the game. As an example, let’s say that they ducked instead of dodging a swing from a monster.
What does the patent say?
The approach involves giving access to a recording of the prior gameplay, with the recording being one that was shared by a player during the previous playtime. Included in this strategy is the provision of an interface that, given the preceding gaming, determines one or more “what-if” situations. The assessment of the recording of the user’s past gameplay using a machine learning technique in order to find what-if situations for the user leads to the selection of one or more what-if possibilities for incorporation into the interface. The interface also has alternatives for what-if scenarios to choose from.
The technique involves providing the opportunity to pick at least one of the what-if scenarios from among the available possibilities. The option results in a modification being made to the information that is linked with the record of the prior gameplay. The approach involves playing back the recording that was picked by modifying the metadata in order to achieve a different result from the previous game by utilizing the recording that was played again.
This seems like a really ambitious feature, and it would be one that developers would need to support rather than a function that is just ubiquitous. It is uncertain whether or not this patent will result in the creation of anything useful. Because Sony has patented a broad variety of ideas that have never been put into practice, it would not be shocking if this idea was never developed farther than the conceptual stage. In the meanwhile, even if it does come out, there is no assurance that it will be available on the PS5.
