With Covid-19 still keeping people indoors in most countries, communicating with gamers and friends solely via text and video chat just isn’t cutting it anymore. In that vein, Sony is exploring the use of facial recognition to turn players’ real-life facial expressions into emojis so that they can communicate more efficiently with their friends using their consoles.
To transform expressions to emojis, the patent will utilize a camera located in the player’s controller and allow them to take images of their facial expressions. These images will be converted into emojis, which players can then share with fellow gamers. This will surely result in more organic interactions between PlayStation users, as player expressions can be captured in real-time, either automatically or via the simple press of a button on their controller.
However, none of these methods are confirmed as the patent mentions different versions of the base technology that will be employed. Some concepts are based on emojis molding into facial expressions depending on the image captured, while other versions will use the player’s expression to choose an emoji that is closest in resemblance and then send that emoji to another player. Irrespective of the method, Sony clearly plans to turn the DualSense controller into a more well-rounded device, with games like The Last of Us Part 2 and upcoming next-gen titles utilizing its haptics and other features to impressive effect.
In fact, if patents and other recent developments are anything to go by, it seems Sony is set to go all out on enhancing the overall PlayStation gaming experience. This facial recognition patent is one in a slew of patents that Sony has filed recently that are focused on revolutionizing the PlayStation experience.
These patents include ones that aim to turn inanimate objects into PS controllers, give more to autonomy to esports viewers, and bring voice functions to PS5’s new DualSense controller. The company also recently announced its plans to integrate popular comms platform Discord into PlayStation consoles by 2022.
With all this in the pipeline, it may seem that there are a lot of exciting things in store for PlayStation owners. However, it’s important to note that most patents filed by tech companies fail to see the light of day. So, try not to get too excited by all the potential ideas that they float.
About Sony
Sony Corporation is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Kōnan, Minato, Tokyo. The company operates as one of the most comprehensive media companies on the planet and also holds the distinctions of being the largest video game console company and the second largest video game publisher in the world.
Its gaming and network services arm Sony Interactive Entertainment (formerly Sony Computer Entertainment) is best known for producing the popular line of PlayStation consoles.
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