A new PlayStation patent has revealed what could end up being a huge new feature introduced with the PS6. A company like PlayStation is constantly experimenting and dumping metric tons of money into research and development. As a result, there is a constant, steady flow of PlayStation patents surfacing online.
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The latest is called “Game Play Rewind With User Triggered Bookmarks,” which is patent jargon for a rewind feature involving the DualSense controller. The patent was applied for back in 2023, but only published on October 31 of this year.
“A method including receiving actuation of a universal button on a controller during live game play of a video game, wherein image frames of the live game play are displayed in sequential order, wherein a current image frame is being displayed when the universal button is actuated,” reads the patent.
The patent continues: “The method including receiving selection of a rewind mode from features presented in a user interface displayed simultaneous with the live game play in response to the actuation of the universal button. The method including accessing from storage a subset of captured image frames generated for the game play. The method including entering the rewind mode by automatically switching from displaying the live game play to displaying the subset of captured image frames in reverse beginning from the current image frame. The method including responding to rewind controller inputs for controlling the displaying of the subset of captured image frames in rewind mode.”
What exactly this patent is getting at is not entirely clear. Some have taken it to mean a rewind feature that allows players to rewind back to specific moments of their saved gameplay, using a specific button on the controller, and pick back up at these moments. Anyone who has used emulators will be familiar with this functionality. If this is true, it would be a major selling point for the PS6.
However, others have pointed out this is likely for nothing more than rewinding previous gameplay to view and view only. This would be a major addition to the functionality of the console, but not quite as consequential.
It is worth noting this could all come to fruition sooner with the PS5 and PS5 Pro, however, the time between patent and product is usually a lengthy one. To this end, if something comes of this patent, we suspect it will be with the PS6, not the PS5. And this is assuming something comes of this patent, which is no guarantee. There have been many PlayStation patents over the years that have come to nothing.
At the moment of publishing, PlayStation has not commented on this patent and the speculation it has created. It never comments on patents or the speculation they typically create, so we do not suspect this will change, but if it does, we will update the story accordingly.
H/T, Tech4Gamers.
