Sony has filed a patent that, as likely as not, will never see the light of day. Known by the wonderfully evocative name, Sony Patent WO2025010132 "TIMED INPUT/ACTION RELEASE", the speculative tech aims to streamline the "timed release of user commands" by using AI to determine your next button press.
Spotted by Tech4Gamers (thanks, IGN), this could work in several ways. A camera pointed at the player's fingers would use machine learning to predict the player's movements and, theoretically, cut down on input time. Sony rationalized this tech thusly: "There can be latency between the user's input action and the system's subsequent processing and execution of the command. This, in turn, results in delayed execution of the command and unintended consequences in the game itself." No more blaming your losses on input lag, eh?
Another possible sensor, instead of the impractical finger-camera, could be inside the controller button itself. PlayStation is clearly on board with using AI to improve its products, with its first official upscaler, PSSR, shipping with PS5 Pro consoles. Who knows, perhaps the DualSense could get an AI upgrade for the PS6?
What do you think of Sony's predictive button tech, which, like many other patents, will probably never be acted upon meaningfully? What do you think of the prospect? We've taken the liberty of predicting your response in the comments section below.
[source tech4gamers.com, via ign.com]
Comments 46
Sounds like the kind of thing that will need to be demo'd at CES or something to get an actual idea of how it works. It sounds extremely theoretical so far.
What the hell would even be the point of buying games then if they’ll just play them for you? It’s like people who watch whole play through on a stupid video sites and act like they experienced the game themselves.
@LavenderShroud I could see a use case for accessibilty purposes but as I said this sounds very theoretical and we will need to see it in action to understand how exactly it reduces lag.
CQTE - cinematic quick time event - a moment in the game when the graphics are better than normal gameplay that you sit and watch as the game controls itself using AI.
Not to be confused with a cutscene, which does not involve AI
Sony looking further down the line and patenting tech before somebody else has the idea. Imagine how expensive such a controller would be? People complaining about a £700 console nobody wanted will have a field day over this. I can't wait.
@Northern_munkey Can’t wait for the arguments in the comments sections. Interestingly Sony just said they are looking into alternate ways to sell consoles… they are not looking to make cheaper consoles… the discourse will not be improving 🤣
That would completely ruin fighting games.
So rollback netcode but for your controller?
This doesn't sound bad if it does in fact reduce some lag but it sounds very minimal
Accessibility is the only feasible use case I can think of. Which is a noble cause after all. AI is a buzzword that fills many people with dread but it’s generative AI that’s the killer, not this sort of thing.
@IamJT I fear not..I'm thinking that the ps5/pro generation may be the last console I own and not because I'm bored with gaming but because I think they will be too expensive and over reliant on gimmicks and AI tech that will just take away the whole enjoyment factor for me..note everybody I said for "me" as in personal opinion.
@GoatFace04 how could it reduce controller lag? It would have to be able to predict frame rate fluctuations and bad frame pacing blah,blah,blah...its going to be very expensive tech and definitely not a casual gamers game pad.
Who’s the model for the guy in the diagram? Whatever he’s playing seems intense.
A game that plays itself. It's the easy mode vs hard mode argument all over again.
Please stop, Sony...
As others have mentioned this seems like an accessibility option for those who struggle with button presses and hand eye coordination.
@StrickenBiged, That guy could be me when gleefully wielding a chainsaw in a Vice City rampage.
scrubs gonna have a field day using an ai controller with scrubby modern controls in sf6 .
terrible idea, but a great idea business wise :/
Bloodborne will finally be for everyone
Maybe I'll finally start playing souls-like games then. 🤷♂️
20th Century: The Robots will take over the world, they’ll take over nuclear sites, rise up in self awareness and kill us all
21st Century AI: Can’t count r’s in strawberry. Robs artists and creatives of their livelihoods. Plays games for us.
This is not as exciting as we were led to believe.
Sounds great ! /s
You think You play a game but You actually don't. Anyway this technology is needed to make game streaming feel more convincing ...
But who knows. Maybe one can come up with something which looks like real time live action, but is actually rather a "real time" "strategy" game in which the playable character is nudged to do certain actions.
Modern cars have cameras which film the driver‘s right foot. And if they see a sudden movement of it, the car assumes an emergency brake and starts maximum breaking before the foot actually hits the pedal. This is clever, because moving the foot takes some hundred milliseconds, and it’s about life and death.
On a gamepad, moving a finger takes less time, and it’s only: a game.
I bet the CoD only dudebros can’t wait.
So, I reckon this all boils down to how we 'currently' perceive the timing between the decision to press a button and the actual resultant action on the screen, and whether or not this could improve it for us - which is likely to mean an improvement of milliseconds at best. I must admit, I don't really feel that much by way of 'lag' in everyday controller use, but I can see how this would marginally improve timings in games that rely heavily on instantaneous player response, and probably work in competitive play assuming the playing field is level. I can't attest as to how this would be implemented for accessibility improvement, not having any experience in that area. But, as I age, I find myself slower to respond to certain prompts or windows of opportunity, so for me it would be kind of neat to have something that bridges that gap a little, even if only to allow myself to feel slightly more capable as I try to take on bosses with my 50+ year old reaction times!
Funny how the “game” in the diagram has Shop clearly listed. I can just imagine the controller taking advantage of micro movements and tiny lapses in impulse control to guide us to what we “secretly” want to buy
This is the kind of thing companies shouldn't be able to patent. It's too broad and Sony probably haven't done the work to make this an actual reality.
@NoCode23 For me, that would be spawning in a tank and going on said rampage until I explode.
@LavenderShroud My dad does that. He sits and watches COD videos on YouTube while eating dinner. But he's 79 and doesn't really have the reflexes to play anymore.
I hope enabling it makes trophies not pop at least.
while gamers can have a reputation of being lazy now……….
I'm quite happy to press my own buttons, thank you very much, but if this can prove useful as an accessibility feature for those with motor issues then I'm all for the development of this as an option.
It sounds silly at first, but so have many other uses of AI and computed assistance until we now gradually have accepted them as essential parts of life.
I’m not sure what it says about humanity’s future, but anything rote we are gradually turning over to machines. On the one hand it suggests that it trims down human input to be saved for only the most critical of decisions and creation, on the other hand it threatens to make us all lazier and dependent.
Now I get Sony's master plan: they've been making movie games for 3 generations, so this will certainly close the gap and realize their ideal game, one that plays itself!
Lol I'm only half-joking seeing how little agency you have in Sony's first party blockbusters
Sounds like automatic macro creating tool. Anti-cheat systems start to sweat...
Some people will try anything to beat that fighting game boss that reads your button inputs!
Nice April joke .
What if it predicts wrong and presses the wrong button?
@Northern_munkey as mentioned in the article the intent is that the game knows what button you are pressing a few fractions of a second faster and prepares the input slightly quicker reducing input lag. This may be especially useful for streaming games
@Kierant202 yeah I get that. The tech that is going to be required in the game pad is going to make it crazy expensive. I just think this is going to be a uber enthusiast purchase.
AI pad, Yes please I'll test this pad on Justin Wong MvC2 or Street Fighter
Buttons that press on there own for games that don't exist, what wonders will Sony think up next?
@LavenderShroud As long as they don't become idle games. I agree and find it a bit ridiculous. Videos can be tricky to replicate if the animations plays and it's not clear what buttons or the game glitches and the player needs to try again, or many other factors.
Players that are that understanding of a game or invested will do so and progress, those that don't, don't. Any player knows this, any smart develo9per can tell, and those that can't need to think about it then offer solutions like this because they designed it badly and are lazy/don't have time to alter it.
I question level design puzzles (I like them but they 'never' change them) and I'm just thinking "why not just offer an easier puzzle, have like 3 different puzzles and different types per difficulty". But that's too much dev time so they just go eh skip or only tweak enemy health or health is more visible in the world. Like come on. They are too lazy to have different scales of puzzles but willing to change simple values. It's so stupid. I've questioned this for years if a game has puzzles like an Uncharted or something. Or others that go a bit further.
Why not scale different puzzles, not just hints or skipping but different scaled levels of puzzles. In a puzzle game this wouldn't work and just having like 100 easy, 100 normal, 100 hard is probably normal (and players can just give up that's fine, hints/skipping there makes sense) in some cases but for an action adventure game having a few easier alternate ones I think makes sense but we never see that happen.
So to me if it's obvious how normal people/casuals thinks and are willing to try, just like the 3 clicks principle, a help like this 'makes sense' but it's still on the devs part to understand WHY it was unclear in the game.
I've struggled with some tutorials or gone "how do I use this abilities/item later at this part of the level when it's required again and hasn't been necessary for a gap of time in the gap". That's on the developer or the player remembering and having gaps between playing. The player is at fault for jumping between games. But if they are actively playing and still barely remember it's up to them or the dev to make it clear how to do something to progress.
I can see reason if people don't have a gamer family member to help or someone skilled enough/people get sick of trying to beat a section (even though games are so easy these days most of the QTE or other skill required/health survival moments in old games don't exist no more beacuse games are so casual in mind easy for missions or character movesets/level design).
But what was the point in skill buttons for things like Ratchet 2016's puzzle gadget or Days Gone missions being skippable.
It just kind of seems odd, if they can add skip features why have it be played for a player unless they really just want to see it played out?
It does become questionable.
I mean even auto battlers are a bit stupid. For grinding sure. But even FF13's auto battle was so bad the manual was so much more viable to me. Disgaea 6 I get why people hated it but I used it a few times but mostly played manual as it's what I play the game for, to play it.
If devs want grinding they should just balance it more but why do that whether they have MTX or other aspects in them or not.
It has 'merit' but yes I do agree some questionable reasoning behind it as well.
@LavenderShroud Part 2. Some devs just seem too lazy or too proud of their own work to really go eh I have time or 'will admit my design needs to be easier for audiences'. Like are they afraid to do so and just go eh 'this will do instead'. It's just seems strange.
That's how it can come off at times even if not intended.
I'm happy to help family members with flight sections as I got good at them.
But that's also because I played all genres or had Ratchet/Spyro (like many of us of course) that had minigames that tested me as a player and had a mix of all genres or possibilities even if the devs just had ideas and wanted to make something with what ideas they had) to a degree so for me people can so "oh I hate platformers with experimentation and just want platforming" well yeah but they prepped me for all genres and I still remember how to play aspects from them even after years of not playing them and then come back to them and 100% them again like it's nothing, so it was worth it. XD
@Northern_munkey I think it is interesting tech that isn't necessarily bad as a concept. Someone more creative than me could probably use this in an interesting way that we haven't thought of. Its most likely for more intense accessibility in games though
@GoatFace04 I don't think it's bad and I'm sure there will be plenty of adopters. It's not my cup of tea but it will be interesting to see how this plays out..
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