PlayStation Reveals New Multiplayer Features Coming to PS5
PlayStation is making a handful of significant changes to online play.
A new feature will be coming to PlayStation 5, which will allow players to invite people to play with them online, even if they aren't already friends through PlayStation Network. Through the PS5 or the PlayStation App, users are going to be able to generate links that can then be shared to invite one another to join online sessions. This won't be replacing the current method, so nothing has to change if players want to leave well enough alone. Basically, the idea is to make it much easier to jump into gameplay sessions with the people that you want to play with, without having to jump through the same hoops there are currently.
Other PS5 Online Improvements
Once the shareable links feature goes live, players will be able to share these codes to social media platforms via the PlayStation App. Additionally, PlayStation is creating a widget for PS5 sessions that are shared via Discord. Discord users will be able to see the current status of the online session, so they won't try to join a game that has already ended. As these features start to get rolled out, it will also become easier for players to become friends. PlayStation has revealed that there will be a way to generate links to your Network profile through the console, the PlayStation App, or through the official PlayStation website. Users will even be able to generate links for other users, so they could theoretically share a link to help friends find one another.
Making a Better PlayStation Online Experience
It will be interesting to see how all these features work in practice. During this console generation, we've seen PlayStation looking for more ways to improve the overall gaming experience. Making it easier to play the games that you want with the people you want to play with is a really great concept. Sometimes it's fun to play with someone random online, but that can also lead to bad interactions, and some PS5 users would prefer to curate their own pools of people to play with. It's hard to say how much these features will actually get used by the average player, but it's great to see PlayStation working towards ways to improve the experience.
Unfortunately, PlayStation's blog post does not make it clear how soon these new features will be implemented. All it says is that these few features will be added "in the coming months." Whether that means they'll arrive in time for this year's new Call of Duty remains to be seen, but that seems like the type of game that could benefit from these online features. For now, PS5 fans will just have to use the online features that are currently available.
Do you think these new features will make it easier to play with people online? Could you see yourself trying any of these features? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!
