Sony Files PlayStation Patent to Help People Terrible at Video Games Be Better

Sony has filed a new patent to help PlayStation gamers terrible at video games be better, or at [...]

By Tyler Fischer

Sony has filed a new patent to help PlayStation gamers terrible at video games be better, or at least feel better while playing PS4 and PS5 games. Every couple of months, a new PlayStation patent surfaces online, and the newest -- titled "Use of Machine Learning to Increase or Decrease Level of Difficulty in Beating Video Games Opponent -- describes an AI technology that would adapt to a player's skill, decreasing and increasing the difficulty to provide the ideal level of challenge.

The concept isn't exactly new, but the patent and the technology it protects is, and it sounds quite advanced. Naturally, the patent itself -- which can be viewed here -- is packed full of technical jargon and dense detail that's difficult to decipher. That said, more or less, the patent describes a technology that collects data on player patterns, including player strategies. Combing this with other relevant data, like success rate and skill, the technology makes changes to the AI and its behavior to either accommodate for a player that's struggling with the section of the game or a player blowing through it. In other words, it allows for AI to adapt on-the-fly to the player.

What this would look like in practice, remains to be seen. It also remains to be seen if this would be a system-side technology or a game-side piece of tech. And of course, it remains to be seen if anything will come of this technology. Sony files patents all the time, many of which never graduate past the conceptual stage. This patent is obviously with PlayStation in mind, but who knows when we will see it, if ever.

The way the patent is written, it sounds almost like Sony may implement it with New Game Plus, a feature it's been championing with many of its games. However, for now, this is just speculation based on some of the language of the patent.

At the moment of publishing, Sony has not commented on the patent or the speculation surrounding it. If this changes, we will be sure to update the story with whatever is provided, salient or not. In the meantime, for more coverage on all things PlayStation -- including all of the latest on the PS4 and PS5 -- click here or check out the relevant links below:

H/T, SVG.

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