Let’s take it slow, Sony (Picture: Patentscope)
In a push towards greater accessibility, Sony is considering adding a slow mode as a widespread feature, following its inclusion in Spider-Man 2.
While Sony’s first party line-up for the PlayStation 5 seems to have ground to a halt, many of its games continue to lead the way when it comes to accessibility options.
Developer Naughty Dog has often paved the way, with The Last Of Us Part 2 picking up the Innovation In Accessibility prize at The Game Awards in 2020. Meanwhile, Insomniac’s Spider-Man 2 was nominated in the same category last year.
As a result of their success, it now seems Sony is looking to standardise accessibility features across its various games, according to a newly published patent, which looks to add a tool to reduce gameplay speed.
In the legal document titled User Accessibility System And Method, it describes a setting which grants players the ability to slow down the gameplay – without affecting the audio, frame rate, or difficulty.
‘In short, changing the difficulty setting of a game to accommodate accessibility needs is typically a sub-optimal solution because it necessarily changes the nature and balance of the game itself,’ the patent reads.
The document goes onto cite Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart as a template, which allowed players to slow down the action to 70%, 50%, or 30% of the game’s full speed to help those with cognitive or motor accessibility needs. The feature also cropped up in Spider-Man 2.
Spider-Man 2 takes some big swings for accessibility (Picture: Sony)
‘The game itself can slow down in-game time, so that gameplay evolves more slowly whilst still maintaining audio and a good frame rate,’ the patent reads. ‘As in Ratchet & Clank, this requires enabling the user to set the speed change that suits them best, and to select when to apply it, for every game that implements its own version of such a feature.’
Sony notes that this feature cannot be implemented at a ‘system level’ on the PlayStation console, with work required to make it function to each specific game. This patent, however, suggests the company wants it to become a standard offering in its first party titles.
More Trending
The ability to slow down time has been used as a gameplay mechanic in many titles over the years, including Max Payne, Bayonetta, and Superhot, but it’s only in recent years that it’s been used as an accessibility feature.
As ever, the existence of a patent doesn’t mean the feature will be made a widespread addition. Sony has recently filed patents on systems which allow games to play themselves and the ability to restart a game from anywhere, but neither has appeared in a game yet.
Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter.
MORE : PS5 outsells Xbox by 9 to 1 in France reveals latest data
MORE : Game Pass seems to have missed its sales target for the third year running
MORE : PS5 is now more than half of all UK console sales as Xbox falls behind Switch
Follow Metro Gaming on Twitter and email us at gamecentral@metro.co.uk.
To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.
For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.
Sign up to all the exclusive gaming content, latest releases before they’re seen on the site.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.