Summary
A recent patent filed bySonyindicates that the company is developing a new way for players to create virtual avatars. This new technology could facilitate the in-depth customization of in-game characters, though it’s not clear which ofSony’s upcoming gaming endeavors this could be connected to.
DespiteSony’s recent stock value diveand the controversy surrounding comments about the PS5 entering the “latter stage” of its life cycle, the PlayStation brand is still going strong. The success of the console has been buttressed by a steady stream of strong first-party exclusives, as was the case for the PS4, but there’s evidence to suggest that Sony’s strategy is shifting a bit, with the company doubling down on multiplayer, live-service experiences. These online games, along with PlayStation’s VR initiatives, suggest a strong new direction for the brand, built on new technologies.
One of these new technologies is something called “image based avatar customization,” according to a recent patent filed by Sony. This follows a2022 Sony patent regarding avatar creation, which set the stage for customization built around facial scanning. This provision is included in the new patent, though the tech’s definition has been expanded to include “real world objects” as well as “human body features,” indicating that Sony could allow players to scan non-human objects for personalization purposes.
Sony’s New Avatar Creation System, Built Around Real-World People and Objects
Broadly speaking, the concept of scanning human faces into game worlds isn’t new, with sports franchises likeNBA 2Koffering prominent examples of this sort of character-creation tool. However, Sony owning and developing such technology places it in a much different context. While the specific applications of the technology are not clear, it could connect to thenext slate of Sony first-party exclusives, especially as the company bets on multiplayer, live-service games, which are a natural fit for true-to-life player avatars. The same can be said for VR titles: avatars based on player face scans could be the next step for VR chatrooms or other social platforms.
The PlayStation 3 saw the release of PS Home, a free casual MMO exclusive to PlayStation owners. This new tech could be associated with a similar social game on the PS5 or PS6.
Sony’s 2024 output of exclusiveslikely won’t have much, if anything, to do with this avatar creation technology, as they are story-focused titles built around single-player gameplay. However, as PlayStation moves into 2025 and beyond, and with the concurrent development of VR and live-service offerings, there are a number of waysSonycould implement such a system.
Sony PlayStation 5
The Sony PlayStation 5 console is one of the most popular gaming machines currently with a fast SSD, a custom AMD APU, and 16GB of GDDR6 console memory, making it one of the best options on the market. It also happens to have a surprising number of console exclusives and currently trades at a discount at multiple retailers nationwide.
