Sony is apparently experimenting with an AI tool that will play the game for you when you are grinding away. A PlayStation patent for “auto-play” mode would simulate your gameplay style in certain environments and apply them to skip that section completely. This technology would likely be built directly into the cloud-based PlayStation Network and be a new feature that subscribers would have access to.
Right off the bat, we should note that gaming companies are filing patents all the time for ideas that never see the light of day. Just because PlayStation has explored auto-play doesn’t mean that we will ever see it. For one, they would have to make sure it works, and also, with a feature as controversial as this, we’re not sure they would go through with it. You can look at the patent yourself here.
From what we have seen, auto-play doesn’t necessarily mean that you could buy the game and let the feature complete it for you. We would imagine that there has to be a certain amount of time spent in the game so the AI can learn how you operate, and then you could set it to grind levels for you or acquire the resources you need. We think this could also be used for very grindy trophies. Of course, this is speculation as we have not seen the feature in play.
There are rumors that the PlayStation 5 Pro is set to release this year, and there are discussions of a possible new handheld coming in the future. We would be surprised if either of these hardware would house auto-play. Instead, we think the PlayStation 6 would be the target for auto-play, should it continue to be something the company pursues. We all know that AI is going to have a bigger impact on gaming in the future, so expect to see more ideas like this as we go forward.
