Now, Sony is looking to make speedrunning a bit easier on its platforms. While speedrunning is incredibly popular in gaming, especially for streaming, it is seen as something that isn’t immediately accessible for many. Taking on a game like Elden Ring requires hours upon hours to find the necessary strategies to complete the game as quickly as possible. However, with a new Sony patent, it may be easier to get into speedrunning and for a player to record their times.
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The new patent concerns replayable activities for interactive content titles. The patent mentions the possibility of implementing a ranking system into games, and clarifies that the replayable activities would be competitive in nature. Basically, the patent seems to allow for players of a given game to record their scores and times for a certain activity, not only permitting replayability but emphasizing it. Considering the patent mentions certain activities and not the whole game, it implies that there could be specific rankings for events, similarly to how some Hitman players speedrun specific levels rather than the whole game.
By coming up with its own ranking system, it seems that Sony would prefer that its users not record their speedruns on third-party sites. However, as speedrunning takes place on all platforms and a fair amount of speedrunners still use older consoles to find new exploits in games like the original Super Mario Bros, it is doubtful that Sony will take hold of the speedrunning sphere.
It is likely then that this Sony patent will simply make speedrunning accessible to gamers who currently find the whole process confusing. Rather than relying on other software to record their times and place them in a ranking system, Sony will have its own league for in-game activities. This news follows another recent patent developed by Sony that aims to make understanding its new hardware features easier.
MORE: Elden Ring Speedrun Times Explained
