The USPTO has been very busy lately, approving and publishing several patents from Sony Interactive Entertainment. With PlayStation 5 on the horizon, it's always interesting to look at these, as they could possibly give us a glimpse at what the future holds. Just last week, we learned about a proposed PS5 controller device that could give you contextual information dependent on where you are. Now, it seems Sony wants us all playing together more often -- even in single player titles.
This patent details the ability to split a set of controls up and assign segments to up to four players, either locally or online. For example, player one is on the sticks, player two has the face buttons, and player three is in charge of the triggers. You'd each have a PS5 controller, but you'd each be in charge of certain commands. It sounds mad, and it might be fun for certain types of games, but we're not sold on this one.
However, the other aspect of this patent sounds more interesting. Using the cloud, players may be able to swap total control from one to another, say after a certain period of time. This would mean you and some friends could all play, for example, Uncharted's single player campaign "together", periodically swapping who's in charge of the on-screen action. This doesn't sound dissimilar to Share Play, functionality on PS4 in which players can view and join in with each other's games. It seems this patent is a progression of this tech.
What do you think of all this? Would you like to share controls with your pals in PS5 games? Let everyone have a turn in the comments below.
[source nl.letsgodigital.org]
Comments 13
.... is just a Update Shareplay
Interesting idea , can see it causing chaos if it played out like they said but if you all came together in harmony with the buttons , it would be a moment of sheer joy
I recall a Sega Genesis title, don't recall the name, but it was a twin stick shooter where you piloted a giant Mecha.
In two-player mode one person controlled the walking and the other controlled the firing.
It was mad fun playing with my brother and it was my favorite game until it was returned to the blockbuster to collect dust.
This could be cool for the right games
I think Runbow did something similar with controller setup to achieve 8-player multiplayer with only 4 controllers.
This isn't something I am particularly interested in, since I don't have any friends.
My wife and I co-op played botw with one controller each. This could be fun for a lot of games for us, especially if we can map who has which controls.
don't care for this.
it only makes me hope that this idea does not compromise SP games (exclusive and multiplat) by forcing some form of MP and/or coop into them to support this.
@jdv95 How could taking turns through the cloud or button mapping SP controls across two controllers force features into games? This seems unobtrusive and like it might not require the game developer at all. If nothing else, it sounds like we'll have full controller mapping for every game. I don't see anything but good here.
Why don't they make multiplayer free as well? That's my only beef with Sony. I refuse to pay for being able to play multiplayer games, period.
as long i can play offline and dont need the cloud, i will be good. dont need any of this future online bs... by the way why dont you sony make online mp free like it was on the ps3??.. that would be a very good feature that many of us want back, so we dont need to get the psplus if we dont want it. and i am sure it will make more people pick up the ps5 instead of a xbox and nintendo, since you gotta pay to play online on them consoles.
Both sound extremely useless and a waste of resources. I would never play a sp game that way.
Interesting, but doesn't sound like something I'd use. I had enough trouble coordinating my own two hands when I played 'Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons' on PS3. 🤣
@TheBuzz You've got to pay to play online because servers cost money to buy, and the people employed to maintain them need paying; plus, they're a business, not a charity. It used to be free, and everyone complained about the (lack of) quality/reliability; I don't think anyone can really argue that it has improved massively since they tied it to a PS Plus subscription. And I say this as someone who subs to Plus and very rarely plays online.
This sounds terrible in every way possible. Using a single controller but dividing it amongst three people over the cloud is pointless. If you're playing a SP game, why would you want to be in a party chat let alone dividing what inputs you have access to? There isn't a single game where this is necessary. Locally it can be interesting, if only for a short time. As for 'sharing' between players.... Just play your own damn game. Multiplayer has been a fad that's gone on too long and now it's just getting stupid. Here's hoping if this feature makes it to PS5, it doesn't impede actually playing the games. If I'm required to be online to play though, you can count me out entirely.
What would be really great is if they can manage it so that any multiplayer game can be played split-screen, regardless of the game natively supporting by allocating a user account half a screen. It would bring couch co-op to pretty much any multiplayer title. Have a feeling part of the Stadia pitch has this as a feature.
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