It appears that Sony is on a mission to make games more inclusive. A patent filed by the company tells of a technology that will adjust latency based on a player’s performance, especially when it comes to their reflexes.
As spotted by GameRant, The patent suggests that based on a player’s performance in initial segments of gameplay, the AI would slow down gameplay to compensate for their slow reflexes. The player’s performance would continue being tracked and the latency would be reduced again, once the AI has deduced that they have gotten the hang of it. This technology clearly aims at creating a more customised difficulty arc for players who have a tough time, especially when it comes to gameplay sequences that rely on reflexes.
Combat would be a major gameplay aspect that many newcomers would have a hard time with, especially the Souls-like system and its evolution. Actions like parrying or dodging at the right time require a certain level of precision and timing that not everybody can achieve immediately. The technology that this patent details out would slow down such instances until you master them. After that, the AI will gradually decrease the latency to ease you into the standard gameplay difficulty.
This is only one in a series of patents that Sony has filed, all of which are aimed at addressing gameplay difficulty. One patent involved experienced players signing up as “experts” for certain games and helping out players that are stuck on a particular sequence via a chat system. The ‘Personalised Assistant AI’ patent allows for an AI to track and learn a player’s gameplay decisions, eventually making it possible to emulate their playing style. Since this AI would be linked to player profiles, you could possibly download another player’s AI to complete a difficult section for you.
While these patents work toward accessibility and inclusivity, another recent patent filed by Sony aims to create an esports betting system within the PlayStation UI. This system would allow esports fans to not only watch matches, but also place bets on the results. The use of the words “pecuniary or non-pecuniary” suggests that there could be multiple forms of betting involved.