While Mark Cerny’s overtly technical presentation of the PS5 may have put many eager viewers to sleep with its heavy-handed developer-centered approach, it offered quite a few clues about certain secret weapons Sony has lined up for the next-gen console. A recent Sony patent further hints at changes to the PlayStation 5 OS, knocking down barriers in the operating system and allowing players to get right into the game. The patent, titled Direct Interfaces for Launching Direct Gameplay, was filed on September 19, 2018, and was just recently published on March 19, 2020.
Effectively, the patent details a method that would allow users to set a “template” for launching a game. These templates could be for things like continuing from your latest save file or being thrown right into multiplayer matchmaking. The options would then be presented directly on the game’s home screen on the PS5 OS allowing users to jump right to their most-frequented areas of the game.
Currently, users need to load up the game, watch the intro reel of developers and publishers, select a mode, and then select what they’d like to do in that mode. The Sony patent would move those options to the PlayStation 5 OS, so instead of needing to boot up the game to select continue, you could simply select continue from the main tile. Instead of needing to load up multiplayer and then select start matchmaking, you could jump directly into matchmaking immediately.
The patent also goes on to detail methods that would pull information outside of the game to the PS5 OS, providing players with a snapshot of what they need to do next without loading up the game and checking stats, objectives, and other in-game information. It’s all in service of Sony’s goals of not only being blazingly fast, but redefining the way we think about playing games when we boot up our consoles. Instead of just being a platform for games to be played on, this patent would allow the PlayStation 5 OS to better weave and interface with games for a more seamless gameplay experience.
You can read the full text of the patent yourself if you want to get into the technical details of how such a feature would work. If this does end up getting implemented in the PlayStation 5 OS, it will be a revolutionary step forward in how we interact with home consoles. Note that this is quite different than the feature where you can decide what to have installed (just single player, just multiplayer, etc.). This patent is about effectively pulling certain “save state” templates from the game to the main menu to allow players to immediately load into a game where they want, removing the needs to go through logo screens and menus before getting right into gameplay.
Developers are quite excited for the PlayStation 5, revealing that Sony’s recent technical presentation unveiled a number of “secret weapons” the console will have beyond just raw power. Even audio experts at Dolby are plenty excited for the revolutionary Tempest 3D audio engine that will provide hardware-based 3D audio capable of enhancing the soundscapes coming from any set of speakers. While we may be waiting for a proper marketable reveal of the PlayStation 5, details continue to stream in about the sheer possibilities of the next-gen console, which is still on track for a release later this year.
