YouTuber Skullzi has discovered a Sony patent that hints at some sort of data-driven platform for the PS5. Skullzi, who also discovered a trademark that offered clues about Watch Dogs 3, describes a patent titled “personalized data driven game training system.” Sony filed the patent in October 2018 and it details a system that uses data in order to personalize gameplay to each player.
One potential implementation given by the patent is “a narrative of the video game is personalized to an experience level of the player.” Another idea is personalized “assistance” with a game such as automatic braking for the player in a driving game, or a laser sight being displayed in a shooter.
A “deep learning neural network” and learning from “historical interactions” with that game and “optionally” other games are suggested as methods for gathering data for the system. Although the image alongside the patent offers a diagram of a PS4 console, the system sounds so advanced that it is unlikely to be for anything but Sony’s next-generation console.
While a personalized, data driven system doesn’t sound as fun on paper as backward compatibility (another rumored PS5 feature), it could potentially be more important. By using data, Sony could make super difficult games like Dark Souls and Bloodborne more accessible for less skilled players. Or, it could help PlayStation players improve their skills by offering them tips on how to use abilities. The system could potentially recommend games and activities within games based on a player’s performance, too, making it a lot easier to search through the thousands of PlayStation games on sale to find something that suits their play styles.
The patent also suggests that the data could be used to help develop games. “Authoring tools specially adapted for game development or game-integrated level editor adaptively or by learning from player actions,” is something detailed in the patent. The data collected in betas for games is already used to make changes, but with this system, the entire development process could be built around real player habits for the PS5.
The PS5 is likely to be announced in 2020 for a release later that year, according to analysts. It will offer a lot more features than just this data driven system. However, many will see it as a big positive that Sony is thinking of (potentially) innovative new features as well as the (expected) improvements of the hardware specs.
Source: YouTube - Skullzi, OnScope
