A very recent patent details Sony's plans to incorporate custom characters into its PlayStation titles in a brand spanking new way.
PlayStation is reportedly planning to incorporate an avatar-like feature into their future games, involving players' selfies. Think Face Raiders, a launch app for the Nintendo 3DS, but on a much grander scale.
Owned by Sony, PlayStation has remained a top competitor in the gaming industry since its original console launched in 1994, following a falling out with Nintendo over a failed SNES CD-ROM peripheral. Despite dominating each generation since except for the seventh, the PlayStation experience has always been pretty standard and traditional, with each new console and controller not looking that much different from the previous ones until the PlayStation 5 shook things up. That being said, in recent years, it seems the brand is trying to pull a Nintendo and be a little more creative, with forays into motion controls, VR, and even taking notes from the popular Steam Deck.
Fresh off its Project Q announcement, it seems the new ideas just keep coming. A leaked patent reveals Sony's plans to incorporate its player base's selfies into gameplay for future in-house titles. The intuitive process would involve taking a selfie and then scanning a QR code, likely involving a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet. Presumably, this code would be the key to briefly connecting the mobile device to the PlayStation console, allowing the game to access the player's stored pictures. After the picture is chosen, it becomes the face of the playable character, who is then free to do whatever the specific game demands. Nine drawings were included with the detailed explanation, one of which depicts the in-game process in which the player's selfie would be converted to the avatar character.
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Some of the other patents suggest that – taking a page from some of Nintendo's Mii Makers – even after the selfie is uploaded, further character customization features will be present, allowing the player to tweak their avatar even more in case some features didn't translate well during the conversion process. Some of the descriptions suggest an intention to "share the fun with friends," hinting that it may also be possible to share these created avatars with PlayStation friends, presumably with the QR codes attached.
If all of this is true, then it could mark PlayStation's first true foray into character customization, although it would ultimately be late to the party. Nintendo had the idea to incorporate custom avatars as far back as the NES, while Xbox has had them on its consoles since the 360 days. With the huge amount of potential that comes with such a nifty feature, it should be interesting to see whatever the gaming giant ends up doing with it.
