New patents bring new ideas and Sony’s latest invention will allow you to rewatch your old playthroughs with the ability to jump into the game at any moment.
As reported by Insider Gaming on Nov. 12, the World Intellectual Property Organization published Sony’s patent application for a “Content streaming with gameplay launch” system on Nov. 2.
The idea is an interactive content streaming for games where you have chapters and subchapters you can rewatch and replay. The system will have “trigger points,” which can be checkpoints, bosses, endings, or a range of other things that will create a moment you will be able to play through. The trigger points may be predetermined by the game or created by you through means like a save point.
The game will also keep the game data and character information (like stats or items) for the experience to be the same as you remember when playing it for the first time.
It’s like a media player but for games: you have a timeline of the gameplay with various trigger points. You can then select a trigger point and play the game from it. The trigger point is not infinite and doesn’t work like a save. Instead, it’s a set moment you can play through and then it ends.
It was also noted that in some cases, gameplay and cut scenes may be combined to create “a ‘movie’ version of the interactive title.” A section of the document said players will be able to seamlessly switch between streaming and gameplay, creating a unique user experience.
While I initially thought this would be an upgrade to cloud gaming, the patent mentioned the content can be saved locally and replayed when “the user device is online or offline and/or when the platform server is online or offline.”
To make this work, there’s a dedicated API, which likely means only specific games will allow you to use this content streaming feature. Whether already published games will be able to take advantage of it is unclear.
Interestingly, the feature doesn’t require you to fully complete the game. You can “experience an engaging storyline of an interactive title without having to play through the entire interactive title,” and the game will likely adjust in-game progression accordingly.
As it often is with patents, many details are still unknown. Sony might be doing this just to claim the invention before someone else does. As noted by Insider Gaming, however, this patent links to related documents from 2019 and 2021, meaning this idea has been a priority for Sony.
Published: Nov 13, 2023 1:05 PM UTC