A new Sony patent has PlayStation fans going crazy with PS5 speculation. Recently, Sony Interactive Entertainment trademarked “Soho Engine” in Europe. What does this mean? Well, that’s the million-dollar question, and the question that has PlayStation fans speculating like mad. Some have suggested this could be related to PS3, PS2, and PS1 backward compatibility, while others are suggesting this could be related to shuttered Team Soho.
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The trademark — which was filed with the European Union Intellectual Property Office — unfortunately doesn’t divulge any salient details. However, the peculiar name of the trademark does has some possibly interesting implications.
The most immediate implication is this has something to do with Team Soho, a Sony developer in London that has since been dissolved but notably created The Getaway series. What’s interesting about this observation is that we heard back in August that Sony may be reviving the forgotten PS2 franchise.
Others have pointed out this could be a new VR engine from SIE London Studio, which Team Soho was based out of. This is a possibility, but it seems unlikely Sony would greenlight the creation of an engine specifically for VR given how expensive and challenging creating an engine is and how niche VR is at the moment. It’s also possible this could be a new engine out of Sony London that has nothing to do with VR, and is simply titled the Soho Engine as a homage.
Meanwhile, some have suggested this could be related to previous rumors that Sony is working on an engine in its pursuit of giving PS5 backward compatibility with the PS3, PS2, and PS1, but this seems unlikely. Not only is there nothing here that suggests this, but at this point, it doesn’t seem like Sony has much interest in achieving this.
Unfortunately, for now, all we have is speculation. The reality is this could be a lot of things, including many things of the inconsequential variety.
At the moment of publishing, Sony has not offered any type of comment or statement on the patent or the speculation surrounding it, and it’s unlikely it will as it has a pretty strict “no comment” policy when it comes to its patents and the speculation they create.
H/T, Gematsu.
