Sony has never delved too deeply into competitive gaming, but based on new patent, it seems they may be planning a new esports-friendly feature for the PlayStation 5. Sony recently filed a new patent for a PS5 tournament system (thanks to SegmentNext for the find) that would allow players to easily set up online tournaments without the use of third-party software. According to the patent, Sony envisions a system that could be used to organize both small tournaments with friends or major events with multiple games and a large number of participants.
Online tournament integration may allow for tournaments to be held by individuals, developers, and other vendors. Providing online tournament integration may involve simple tools for setting up and running a tournament at the platform level, while providing visibility into specific games. As such, a user may use such tools to set up a small tournament with friends who are casual players, while an event planner may use such tools to run a large tournament with numerous participants, complex rules, and involving even [multiple] game titles.
Players would be able to organize teams, invites, match scheduling and more through a “gaming network platform” (likely PlayStation Network) and organizers would be able to customize tournaments using a number of parameters, including “the game title(s) to be played, type of tournament (e.g. single elimination, double elimination, Swiss system, round robin, deathmatch, racing), bracket types, match types, timeframe, number of participants, parameters for participation, match duration, level of competition, specific maps to be played, and/or strategies to be implemented.” Interesting, Sony even suggest a system where participant skill levels will be determined according to their accomplishments in the games being played.
Sounds like a pretty robust system! Something to consider — Sony recently purchased the EVO fighting game championships. EVO 2021 kicks off on August 6, so could we get some official news about this tournament system soon? We shall see! What do you think? Does the seem like a good addition to the PS5’s list of features?
