Although we’re not unfamiliar with games that adapt to some extent to players’ skill, Sony’s new patent will position these systems more consistently than before.
Yes, the interactive difficulty curve is not exactly new, as we know the SBMM of Call of Duty games, the beat/defeat indicator in Overwatch, and the exit of Left 4 Dead, but sometimes it is also suspicious when we find Alan Wake II a couple of skulos in the chest when we run out of ammo . However, what if games scaled difficulty across the board, system-wide, based on data associated with our player profile?
Sony, the Japanese console manufacturer and game publisher, is working on something like this Patented His system is called “Adaptive Difficulty Calibration for Skill-Based Activities in Virtual Environments.” Obviously, the name of the system still needs to be refined a little, but the gist is already clear based on the figure below. The background adaptive difficulty calibration will evaluate a specific player’s performance based on players’ current information, as well as previously stored data associated with their profile, and then adjust the difficulty parameters of the currently running game accordingly in real time.
The goal of the system is clear: Sony always strives to provide the right challenge to its players, regardless of skill or routine, as games that are too easy can lead to boredom, and games that are too difficult can lead to frustration. We hope they succeed with this option and don’t lose the traditional difficulty levels because of this.
