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[cormack12]

Source: https://segmentnext.com/2021/07/13/sony-ps5-online-tournament-system/
...more at link

Sony Interactive Entertainment has apparently been working on an online tournament system which will be using the PlayStation Network to track games and players in real time on PlayStation 5. According to a new patent published last week, the proposed online tournament integration will allow both developers and players, as well as third-party organizers, to host tournaments in separate capacities.

Sony has particularly focused on a wide range of tools to give any player the freedom to host a small tournament for a single game with friends and family. The same tools can however be also used to scale up for a large tournament with numerous participants, multiple games, and a custom set of rules.

There are already a number of premium and free tournament organizers available online. The one proposed by Sony actually integrates a number of parameters directly into the PlayStation Network for real-time data and gameplay tracking.

Hence, for example, the process of seeding and bracketing will be conducted on an automated basis. PlayStation Network will automatically detect when players win their tournament matches on PlayStation 5 and advance them in their groups.

The level of competition can be decided beforehand and invitations will be sent out to only players who have the necessary skill, which may be determined from the games they play on PlayStation 5. In similar fashion, the same integrated system can send out streaming links for ongoing tournaments.

 

[Fahdis]

 

[lh032]

I have a feeling Sony is planning something big.
Acquisition of EVO and now this...

 

[Kusarigama]

Nice way to boost the ps+ subscriptions. You make tournaments easy to host and participate in, more people are going to participate and they'll all need what? Online sub to play.
Also it attracts more console/software sales too.

 

[Vognerful]

Source: https://segmentnext.com/2021/07/13/sony-ps5-online-tournament-system/
...more at link

Sony Interactive Entertainment has apparently been working on an online tournament system which will be using the PlayStation Network to track games and players in real time on PlayStation 5. According to a new patent published last week, the proposed online tournament integration will allow both developers and players, as well as third-party organizers, to host tournaments in separate capacities.

Sony has particularly focused on a wide range of tools to give any player the freedom to host a small tournament for a single game with friends and family. The same tools can however be also used to scale up for a large tournament with numerous participants, multiple games, and a custom set of rules.

There are already a number of premium and free tournament organizers available online. The one proposed by Sony actually integrates a number of parameters directly into the PlayStation Network for real-time data and gameplay tracking.

Hence, for example, the process of seeding and bracketing will be conducted on an automated basis. PlayStation Network will automatically detect when players win their tournament matches on PlayStation 5 and advance them in their groups.

The level of competition can be decided beforehand and invitations will be sent out to only players who have the necessary skill, which may be determined from the games they play on PlayStation 5. In similar fashion, the same integrated system can send out streaming links for ongoing tournaments.

How is that allowed? Like are they going to be the sole holder of online tournaments?

 

[Griffon]

How can you even patent something like that...

Once again software patents are proving to be a fucking scourge on the world.

 

[FranXico]

Once again software patents are proving to be a fucking scourge on the world

Agreed.

There's only a few companies benefitting from them to prevent competition, such as Google, Apple and Microsoft.

 

[Mr.ODST]

With Sony acquiring rights for some sort of esport betting system, my guess is that they are gearing up to build an esports ecosystem internally on the system itself inbuilt.

If you look at their youtube they do daily tournaments with over 5 games.

 

[nowhat]

How can you even patent something like that...

Business method patent - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

That's completely retarded, granted - but that's the US patent system for you, which unfortunately affects the rest of the world as well.

 

[reksveks]

How can you even patent something like that...

Once again software patents are proving to be a fucking scourge on the world.

Trying to enforce it is the hard thing though

 

[ZywyPL]

That's a really great idea, I love it, hopefully this patent will actually materialize sooner or later.

 

[Three]

How is that allowed? Like are they going to be the sole holder of online tournaments?

A patent is about a method not an idea. They have patented the method for their online system to hold tournaments.

 

[SSfox]

Seeing my favorite gaming company (exclude Hermen Hulst tho) supporting my favorite genre is something i actually appreciate.

 

[Griffon]

A patent is about a method not an idea. They have patented the method for their online system to hold tournaments.

It's really flimsy tho, the methods described are so vague and wide, they could attack anybody doing it.

 

[Twinblade]

I remember going to this clan battle site, owned by MLG and compete. is it going to be like that?

Edit: I remembered, it was called gamebattles.

 

[ksdixon]

I have a feeling Sony is planning something big.
Acquisition of EVO and now this...

They do run loads of Tournaments videos on Youtube.

I wonder if with the rumors of so many multiplayer games in development... If Sony are making a broader play to essentially get in on the ground floor/associate PS with a giant e-sports push overall?

 

[Javthusiast]

I love PS, I love fighting games and tournaments. Good news.

 

[Birdo]

They couldn't even find PS5's for their diagram.

 

[Elbow Identity Shallow]

Obviously with a patent you're far better off actually reading the patent itself rather than something that condenses it to little more than a single image. The patent itself includes plenty of pages that breakdown the technical aspects and tools which are specifically being patented here.
As with any other patent this isn't a general "we own everything about gaming tournaments" but a far more sensible "this is the specific technology that we've created to make gaming tournaments simpler to run".

 

[Javthusiast]

They couldn't even find PS5's for their diagram.

 

[Shubh_C63]

Super move. I suck at fighting games but love watching them. Infact every goddamn match of SFV at Evo is so close it is insane.

 

[Punished Miku]

Most people that are really good at fighting games seem to mostly just private matches, or tournaments in person.

I guess this could be a cool feature. I've seen Soul Calibur VI tournaments that had some integration with the PSN community feature on PS4 already. I never tried them though, and just play my usual online ranked matches.

 

[nemiroff]

How can you even patent something like that...

Once again software patents are proving to be a fucking scourge on the world.

Because the patent offices are in this to make money. Simple as that. Which is why many of these method patents are flat out absurdly banal and useless, and more often than not already covered by prior art. Which makes these patents more like a cover-our-asses legal thing, far removed from anything innovation-like. In practice it's very difficult to enforce them, but you can use them to cover against professional patent trolls. This is also why most of "the daily Sony patent threads on gaf" are mostly useless without some additional interesting context.

Take Microsoft f.ex., on average they file about 5 patents per day / 2 000 patents per year, and I bet most those are also garbage patents.

 

[kyoji]

cant wait for more offline tourneys to come back but this is great news for online, now we just need devs to inplement roll back net code as the standard and uniform input delay across pc and console, seeing as console is standard for offline, ps5 is a beast and this should be a great gen for fighting games. Evo is a huge ambassador for the genre and the support sony has been giving over the years is great and i hope will help the scene grow. There are lots of opportunitys now to be a caster or pro making money if youre good at it.

 

[SpokkX]

How many people REALLY care about evo?

i dont know any gamer that does - i for sure never cared. Why does sony invest so much?

isnt overwatch, fortnite or whater MILES bigger?

seems so niche

 

[Faithless83]

That's awesome! Hopefully more fighting games devs will focus on their netcode.
The pandemic helped shed more light than never at this issue and Guilty Gear Strive nailed this.

 

[lh032]

How many people REALLY care about evo?

i dont know any gamer that does - i for sure never cared. Why does sony invest so much?

isnt overwatch, fortnite or whater MILES bigger?

seems so niche

Overwatch/ Fortnite EVO competition, ads money rolling in......

 

[Mr.ODST]

Btw just had a phone call from a recruiter for an Esports and Competitive Gaming job that Sony has just posted, just checked and they have just added it to their website, seems they are going in on some sort of esports ecosystems.

 

[JoeBudden]

It's really interesting how Sony is trying to surround the fighting game genre. Virtua Fighter 5 and Guilty Gear were just released exclusively to PS5 last month.

I feel like Sony is trying to position themselves as the hub for fighting games, similar to how MS is doing the same with WRPGs and FPS shooters.

*hits blunt* things might get shitty if this extends further in the future and entire genres become exclusive to different platforms.

 

[Andodalf]

This could actually be pretty cool! My console can give me a notification to get into my round 3 X-3 match!

 

[ANIMAL1975]

How many people REALLY care about evo?

i dont know any gamer that does - i for sure never cared. Why does sony invest so much?

isnt overwatch, fortnite or whater MILES bigger?

seems so niche

The patent says you can host tournaments, not EVO tournaments... So, a tournament of any multiplayer with private co op seems possible with that wording no?

 

[Elbow Identity Shallow]

Tech like this isn't just for fighting games, I know they have Evo running at the moment but they run tournaments for all types of games including FIFA, NBA, Call of Duty, Chess, etc, etc. Pretty much any game that is played competatively has active tournaments going through PlayStation. These are things that they run all through the year, having something that simplifies these things for people and helps grow area for them makes a lot of sense.
Let's not forget GT too, as well as being the only FIA licensed driving game, it's also the only driving game that is part of the Olympics Virtual Series.





PlayStation Tournaments Website

 

[recursive]

How many people REALLY care about evo?

i dont know any gamer that does - i for sure never cared. Why does sony invest so much?

isnt overwatch, fortnite or whater MILES bigger?

seems so niche

The FGC? Just because you have no skills and get bodied every match doesn't mean it's niche.

 

[kyoji]

How many people REALLY care about evo?

i dont know any gamer that does - i for sure never cared. Why does sony invest so much?

isnt overwatch, fortnite or whater MILES bigger?

seems so niche

Evo is very popular if you take fighting games somewhat serious. if you are a casual button masher then you may not know about it but even then theres plenty of casuals that watch. A few years ago street fighter V pools was streaming to 125k viewer on twitch alone, thats on the main evo twitch channel, not including restreams or other services like youtube, a game like smash even higher viewership.

As far as people actually attending, this was for 2016. Keep in mind this is a open tournament not an invitational and people from all over the world attend, including the best.

1. Street Fighter V: 5,107 - $101,070
2. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U: 2,662 - $26,620
3. Super Smash Bros. Melee: 2,372 - $23,720
4. Pokken Tournament: 1,180 - $21,800
5. Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator: 910 - $19,100
6. Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3: 782
7. Mortal Kombat XL: 713 - $57,130
8. Tekken 7: 549 - $5,490
9. Killer Instinct: 546 - $55,460
   Total Entrants: 14,821

 

[Elder Legend]

Street Fighter 6 Announcement Imminent..

 

[kyoji]

Street Fighter 6 Announcement Imminent..

More than likely at capcom cup. Theres still a mystery character they have yet to reveal for this season, and if i had to guess it will get a trailer at evo.

 

[Raonak]

Good ideas. Nice to see Sony build on evo

 

[yurinka]

Street Fighter 6 Announcement Imminent..

Fighting game publishers traditionally announce new games, DLCs or make important updates after the EVO finals of their games.This time, since it's the first year of Sony's EVO, I assume Sony will want to get some nice announcements to give a good impression.

More than a year ago, Capcom scheduled to release SF6 late 2022, but with covid the the big hack they suffered, I assume they may have delayed it to at least early 2023. And as mentioned, Capcom still has to announce the last remaining SFV character. They also could announce SF6 with a short logo teaser in an event, and later to make a more complete reveal in a later event.

I bet these events could be EVO finals (SF6 teaser), Intel World Open (the official Tokyo Olympics 2020 SFV tournament) finals (last SF5 char) and Capcom Cup finals (full SF6 reveal).

 

[yurinka]

How many people REALLY care about evo?

i dont know any gamer that does - i for sure never cared. Why does sony invest so much?

Directly and indirectly, some millions of people. It's the best place to put ads targeted to fighting game fans.

EVO 2018 and 2019 generated over 6 million hours watched each (not the same than viewers), only with the official live streams:

EVO 2018 League Overview | Esports Charts

EVO 2018 ► Detailed information about EVO 2018 league - list of all EVO 2018 tournaments and events, viewers stats and more

escharts.com

EVO 2019 League Overview | Esports Charts

EVO 2019 ► Detailed information about EVO 2019 league - list of all EVO 2019 tournaments and events, viewers stats and more

escharts.com

On top of that there's the unofficial co-streams, people who watched it later, people who watched specific clips only, videos making anaysis of specific matches, etc.

As a reference, the Xbox youtube channel has only like a dozen videos with over 6.2 million views (different than hours watched). Nintendo E3 2021 Direct had 1.6M views (in the Nintendo youtube channel, many webs did their own co-stream and Nintendo may have channels for other languages). Same goes with the Xbox E3 conference, 2M views on their official channel (but may webs did their co-stream).

This generation fighting games sold over 60 million copies plus a fuck ton of DLCs and many of them are PS console exclusives or are multi games mostly played on PlayStation, both as a normal level and in practically in all tournaments.

This gen (PS4) the fighting games sales numbres grew compared to the previous gen (PS3), which at the same tiem also grew compared to the previous one (PS2). At the same time, eSports numbers of the fighting games keep growing year after year and fighting game eSports are mostly played on PS.

In the next gen (PS5) we'll very likely see the biggest growth ever in the genre because the top 2 top grossing PC games worldwide during the last decade will have a fighting game. One is League of Legends, and the EVO founders (now will work with Sony overviewing the new EVO) are working with Riot on it. The other is Dungeon Fighter Online, and Arc System Works (rumored to be acquired by Sony soon) is developing it. Both have massive fanbases way higher than the entire fighting genre. With less than 10% of these fanbases getting interested on the fighting game the genre would grow a lot.

On top of that, the quality of PSN in PS5 vastly improved, the wifi chip quality on PS5 vs base PS4 vastly improved and fighting games are moving to a way better netcode (rollback), which means this generation to play online in fighting game will be way better, making online tournaments (or at least online qualifiers for the biggest tournaments) something more decent. And well, it also would mean more normal people buying these games and playing online more.

So there's a lot of current and potential future business going on with fighting games and Sony banks part of it. Other eSports games like the shooters like LoL or Overwatch are mostly played on PC both at normal player level and at a competitive level, so Sony wouldn't be that interested on them. Sony first eSports steps are where they are stronger: GT, FIFA and fighting games.

The patent says you can host tournaments, not EVO tournaments... So, a tournament of any multiplayer with private co op seems possible with that wording no?

The patent covers both small tournaments that you can make with your friends and giant tournaments as could be EVO oinline tournaments. Tournaments are traditionally for competitive multiplayer games, not for coop. Not sure if it would cover coop games, but in theory it covers any multiplayer game.

I feel like Sony is trying to position themselves as the hub for fighting games, similar to how MS is doing the same with WRPGs and FPS shooters.

The currently most popular shooters (CoD, Fortnite, Battlefield, Apex Legends etc) are mostly played on PlayStation, not in Xbox/aren't MS games.

How is that allowed? Like are they going to be the sole holder of online tournaments?

What's wrong to organize tournaments for their console? Obviously other people will continue being able to organize other tournaments both for these consoles and for other platforms.

I wonder if with the rumors of so many multiplayer games in development... If Sony are making a broader play to essentially get in on the ground floor/associate PS with a giant e-sports push overall?

Riot is making a League of Legends fighting game, and working in this team there's the EVO (and GGPO) founders. These EVO founders will be also working with Sony overviewing the new EVO. At competitive level, all fighting games are played on PlayStation on tournaments (outside obviously Smash and KI).

LoL has been one of the monthly top 3 top grossing PC games worldwide during a decade or so. Same goes with Dungeon Fighter Online, it's other of these top 3 and they are working on a Dungeon Fighter fighting game developed by Arc System Works, which is rumored to be acquired soon by Sony.

Sony also got many console exclusive fighting games like Street Fighter V and Guilty Gear Strive.

 

[ANIMAL1975]

I want Killzone2 multiplayer Remake for the tournamentz!
Remember we could create public matches and customize almost everything in it? That's half work done and would feet perfectly in the tournament scene!
_ Bodycount in Radec academy, only knifes.
_ Bodycount in Bloody Pit, only desert eagle.
_Salamun Market only mechs! Lol
_And Warzone! Anyway anywhere, best game mode ever!
Yeah im a big Killzone fan and i miss the damn thing a lot

 

[JoeBudden]

I want Killzone2 multiplayer Remake for the tournamentz!
Remember we could create public matches and customize almost everything in it? That's half work done and would feet perfectly in the tournament scene!
_ Bodycount in Radec academy, only knifes.
_ Bodycount in Bloody Pit, only desert eagle.
_Salamun Market only mechs! Lol
_And Warzone! Anyway anywhere, best game mode ever!
Yeah im a big Killzone fan and i miss the damn thing a lot

Fam a Killzone 2 multiplayer remake would be incredible. That game was so ahead of its time.

 

[JoeBudden]

The currently most popular shooters (CoD, Fortnite, Battlefield, Apex Legends etc) are mostly played on PlayStation, not in Xbox/aren't MS games.

Sure, but those are all multiplatform games. Sony dominates in most multiplatform communities.

I'm referring to what games each platform holder is securing as exclusive and the whole EVO acquisition for Sony. it's clear Sony is tryna position themselves as the place to be for fighting games.

 

[CamHostage]

How can you even patent something like that...

Once again software patents are proving to be a fucking scourge on the world.

Agreed, but from a technologist's optimistic perspective, these big companies might be patenting obvious things to avoid patent trolls, not become them.

You do see relatively few lawsuits of big companies suing each other for infringement even in cases where infringement was obvious. (Samsung was got caught in the middle, but Apple genuinely invented a whole slew of gesture and user interface technologies for iPhone that Google just assimilated into Android as if its own OS wasn't planning for a decade of Palm/Blackberry-type devices before touchscreens changed everything.) There's lots and lots of legal action behind the scenes that we consumers don't know about, but the way of things now is that products are only unique for a little while because customers expect parity even though part of the reason companies invent in new ideas is to attract new customers. No company is free-and-clear of the IP it depends on; everything is a little muddy. Most of the patent law nickel-and-diming comes from small "companies" who have produced nothing claiming that they own the ideas that generated profit for somebody who never employed them, taking the successful companies to court in lawsuit-friendly/technology-illiterate places where they've got a good chance of winning often without a fair chance of being entitled the win. So now, everybody who has to have an idea, even a braindead-obvious idea, has to file it if they ever expect to stay out of a courtroom, even though they know the patent is virtually meaningless as far as actually protecting their ownership of the market that the idea might generate.

 

[yurinka]

Sure, but those are all multiplatform games. Sony dominates in most multiplatform communities.

I'm referring to what games each platform holder is securing as exclusive and the whole EVO acquisition for Sony. it's clear Sony is tryna position themselves as the place to be for fighting games.

Think that even if multiplatform, Sony gets 30% of all the millions of games/DLC/MTS sold by these games on their console. They make a ton of money from them. And even if aren't exclusive, they have these players on their platform.

Even after the Bethesda acquisition, if all future Bethesda shooters become full Xbox console exclusive, there will be more poeple playing FPS games on PlayStation. Years ago Sony started to get marketing exclusives of CoD, Destiny and so on.

On top of that, think that seems Guerrilla is working on a multiplayer shooter since 2018 (Killzone maybe?), that ND is making a TLOU2 Factions game, and that they will have 2nd party AAA new IPs from the Destiny and CoD BO guys.

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

How many people REALLY care about evo?

i dont know any gamer that does - i for sure never cared. Why does sony invest so much?

isnt overwatch, fortnite or whater MILES bigger?

seems so niche

I feel it is a niche genre also especially when compared to other genres, but it seems that many more people like to watch or spectate fighting games rather than play them to my experience as funny as that may sound. I’m assuming this is also for the people who like to watch high level play and I think it’s a fairly healthy amount of people if past Evos are anything to go by.

 

[JoeBudden]

Think that even if multiplatform, Sony gets 30% of all the millions of games/DLC/MTS sold by these games on their console. They make a ton of money from them. And even if aren't exclusive, they have these players on their platform.

Even after the Bethesda acquisition, if all future Bethesda shooters become full Xbox console exclusive, there will be more poeple playing FPS games on PlayStation. Years ago Sony started to get marketing exclusives of CoD, Destiny and so on.

On top of that, think that seems Guerrilla is working on a multiplayer shooter since 2018 (Killzone maybe?), that ND is making a TLOU2 Factions game, and that they will have 2nd party AAA new IPs from the Destiny and CoD BO guys.

How much money Sony makes outta all this is pretty irrelevant to the discussion. No offense.

Another big reason why Sony dominates F2P game communities like Apex Legends, Warzone and Fortnite is because MS used to paywall F2P games. This only changed a couple months ago.

Oh yeah, I forgot the Deviation game and Firewalk game are shooters too. Yeah, you're right, I guess both platform holders are focusing on shooters. Its still pretty interesting how Sony is securing almost every fighting game coming out lately. What was the last fighting game Xbox received? Dragonball Fighterz?

 

[Barakov]

They couldn't even find PS5's for their diagram.

 

[SentientStone]

MvC4 PS5 exclusive
SF6 PS5 exclusive
Sony buys Arcsystemworks
Tekken x SF PS5 exclusive
All reveal at Evo owned by Sony

I remain a PS exclusive gamer for the rest of my life aside from the occasional Nintendo affairs. In our PS9 dreams. Lol

 

[DonJuanSchlong]

MvC4 PS5 exclusive
SF6 PS5 exclusive
Sony buys Arcsystemworks
Tekken x SF PS5 exclusive
All reveal at Evo owned by Sony

I remain a PS exclusive gamer for the rest of my life aside from the occasional Nintendo affairs. In our PS9 dreams. Lol

"How to kill off EVO in the first year"

Also:

Guinness World Record for fastest death of an acquisition : Sony/EVO

 

[Blond]

Business method patent - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

That's completely retarded, granted - but that's the US patent system for you, which unfortunately affects the rest of the world as well.

Unless you’re China where patents and copyrights are more like dares than legal standings.