Sony recently filed a new patent that aims to create a coaching system to help PlayStation players who fall below the required “skill threshold.” The new patent is called “Systems and Methods for Coaching a User for Game Play” and was originally filed on June 26, 2020, although it wasn’t published until December 30, 2021.
The new patent is described as, “A method for processing a self-coaching interface is described. The method includes identifying a gameplay event during gameplay by a user. The gameplay event is tagged as falling below a skill threshold. The method further includes generating a recording for a window of time for the gameplay event and processing game telemetry for the recording of the gameplay event. The game telemetry is used to identify a progression of interactive actions before the gameplay event for the window of time. The method includes generating overlay content in the self-coaching interlace. The overlay content is applied to one or more image frames of the recording when viewed via the self-coaching interface. The overlay content appears in the one or more image frames during a playback of the recording. The overlay content provides hints for increasing a skill of the user to be above the skill threshold.”
Many games these days have to create difficulties that are both challenging for seasoned players and not too daunting for newbies. This can be a difficult line to balance and Sony’s new patent aims to solve this issue. The new coaching system will not only help users get to the next level of a game but will also increase their skills so they can do better in the future. Other games have tried similar tactics to help struggling players. Recent Mario games can make the player invincible if they die multiple times. However, Sony’s patent is different in that it seems to actually try to help the player improve. Rather than just holding their hand.
There’s no way of knowing when or if Sony plans to roll out this new system on PlayStation consoles. However, the company has clearly been working on it for the last couple of years. It would prove a great way to welcome new gamers to the platform. Sony recently filed another patent that will improve the haptic system of the DuelSense controller; see that here.
