While patents have often offered a window into potential ideas that companies might be considering that might not necessarily be to players’ liking – from in-game advertisements to various usages of NFTs in games – often, they also bring glimpses of some ideas that do sound much more intriguing. A new patent filed by Sony (discovered by SegmentNext) certainly falls in that latter category.
The patent describes a method for real-time in-game gaming assistance that players can seek from “experts” should they find themselves stuck in the game. As the patent describes, should such a situation ever arise, this method will try and connect players with “experts” who can help them progress further, or, in case no said experts are available, show them gameplay videos.
The idea here, in a nutshell, seems to be better integrating the exercise of looking up guides and walkthroughs while you’re playing a game, without having to need to switch devices to look them up. Sony has implemented similar ideas of late, such as with the PS5’s Game Help mechanic, so it would make sense to see them try and further emphasize a similar feature.
Of course, as is always the case with patents, this isn’t necessarily indicative of new features that Sony definitely will implement in the future, and may very well just be a case of the company protecting its ideas (for now, at least). Whether it comes to fruition remains to be seen.