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[IbizaPocholo]

Sony successfully patents 'Death Stranding'-style environment changes

The patent credits Hideo Kojima as the inventor.

www.nme.com

The patent, submitted by Sony Interactive Entertainment in 2019, was granted yesterday (December 7). It credits Hideo Kojima as the inventor, and a summary of the patent describes the invention as a “terrain radar and gradual building of a route in a virtual environment of a video game”.

Going into more detail, the summary describes it as “a method for influencing a gaming world of a video game” and plots out a way for online players to affect the terrain of single-player worlds, which are delivered to localised (single-player) versions of the game through a “cloud gaming system”.

“The method [includes] determining that a first path has been traversed one or more times by one or more characters,” and explains that it then changes “the first path based on a number of times the first path has been traversed by the one or more characters.”

These “characters” seem to refer to other online players, as the filing describes “cross-pollinating the first path” after it has been “improved across the plurality of virtual environments”.

Further down, the patent describes pathways that physically widen based on how many players have walked along it – an existing feature in Death Stranding.

In total, this all sounds very similar – if not identical – to how players can affect the environment of others in Death Stranding. In Kojima’s last game, players could build bridges, tread paths and leave other useful supplies to help others who followed after, despite being in separate single-player worlds.

 

[Dr Bass]

Software patents are complete BS.

 

[Majima Everywhere System]

So can Hideo do this again if he makes an Xbox game?

Companies are just keeping this majestic bird in a cage.

 

[Akuji]

Oh wtf Sony. Software patents need to go away. The money is already made. As if they didnt use game comcepts others invented originally...

 

[Krappadizzle]

 

[MarkMe2525]

Don't like this at all. Imagine if this practice was widespread. Nintendo patents the ability to manipulate position and flight path while in mid air (Super Mario bros). Valve patents ability to conjure spacial portals that can be traversed to move across a playspace.

 

[Oddvintagechap]

Only Playstation can make strand games now.

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

.

 

[Gamerguy84]

"PS wins console wars by patenting video games, news at 11"

 

[Batiman]

So dumb

 

[Ezquimacore]

imagine Nintendo patenting games where you need items to discover new areas or Microsoft patenting a game where your companion is a hot AI

 

[captainraincoat]

So sony trying to wall up features/ideas which other developers may use to better their game
if other devs had a patent for every new game feature or mechanic then the industry would be very stale...this is where its heading

 

[BennyBlanco]

Cringe.

Still mad WB patented the nemesis system. It had so much potential.

 

[ZehDon]

Lame.

 

[Salty Popsicle]

If software patenting had been prevalent in the gaming industry for decades, most of the games we cherish today would not be possible. Innovative software techniques should be shared across development teams, not walled off for profit. Horrible precedent.

 

[Bitmap Frogs]

Fuck no. This is BS.

 

[hussar16]

just imagine these lawsuits patents decades ago,everyone would patent first person third person, there is so many games that could patent games like mount blade ,etc but tthey do not becuase its horse crap

 

[Dream-Knife]

Wow, what a shitty move.

 

[ethomaz]

That is good.
If you don’t cover your base in some years come a nobody suing you for using their ideia.

 

[Editaur]

Sony might as well pick up Namco's mini game loading time patent that expired while they are at it...........oh

This could just be a loophole Sony is using to cover themselves. There is likely another (if not multiple) patents that describe a similar thing but this will be "Sony's version"

 

[MightySquirrel]

Cunts .

 

[Bridges]

This sucks

The only upside being that this likely means Sony may have more Strand games in their future

 

[Tschumi]

:/ Somehere in the world an indy crew just said "well, fuck that game we were making"

 

[iHaunter]

So can Hideo do this again if he makes an Xbox game?

Companies are just keeping this majestic bird in a cage.

Sony paid for the engine + engine development most likely. They deserve to keep it.

 

[Fare thee well]

Really, how will it be good for anyone to be afraid of lawsuits with every idea they come up with for future games?

Is this really the best legal system we can come up with?

 

[polybius80]

software patents generally are bad but there are patents that companies register so nobody else do and patent troll everyone, is possible they wont go after another software using it so this is not necessarily bad news until there is a case where they go after a developer

 

[megreotsugua]

That is good.
If you don’t cover your base in some years come a nobody suing you for using their ideia.

Yeah you can't really blame Sony covering their base when software idea patent is a thing. The change must come from the patent system itself not allowing these things to be patented.

 

[Notabueno]

And the patent was granted WHERE exactly?

 

[Gameplaylover]

And i thought buying VR excusivity was already a shitty move by Sony. But this tops it easily. Imagine Ubisoft or Rocksteady or would have a patent for their games. Sony would be screwed.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Yeah you can't really blame Sony covering their base when software idea patent is a thing. The change must come from the patent system itself not allowing these things to be patented.

This is unfortunately sad but true. Especially in the sue happy culture we live in.

 

[Loxus]

software patents generally are bad but there are patents that companies register so nobody else do and patent troll everyone, is possible they wont go after another software using it so this is not necessarily bad news until there is a case where they go after a developer

Exactly, people always jump to conclusions without thinking.

Patent it first and keep it open source so someone else wouldn't come in and patent it and lock it behind a pay wall.

 

[vkbest]

Oh wtf Sony. Software patents need to go away. The money is already made. As if they didnt use game comcepts others invented originally...

The problem with patents is other can patent something you did before. Don't think they will sue other companies using this.

 

[ethomaz]

Yeah you can't really blame Sony covering their base when software idea patent is a thing. The change must come from the patent system itself not allowing these things to be patented.

Yeap.

And to add a bit more most software patents created by these big companies are not even used to block somebody else to use the same or similar tech. It is really about being covered if you go to court for whatever reason... the judge trends to be a bit biased to person/smaller company when fighting with big companies so the big companies needs to think ahead.

When I worked in IBM (they where of the company with most software patent per year) we have to follow guidelines with patents when we developed code for new ideias (there is a read there only to analisis your case to see if it was needed patent or not).

 

[Nikana]

Yeah that seems smart to let people patent things like this. I am sure nothing will go wrong.

 

[Nikana]

Yeah you can't really blame Sony covering their base when software idea patent is a thing. The change must come from the patent system itself not allowing these things to be patented.

We can totally blame both. Both suck.

 

[SLB1904]

Death stranding most unique open world ever. And this just proves it

 

[yurinka]

So can Hideo do this again if he makes an Xbox game?

Companies are just keeping this majestic bird in a cage.

If the patent owner is open to allow other publishers to use it (very likely it's the case, there are tons of patents like this one but I don't remember publishers suing each other for copying ideas), they would be able to use it.

Pretty likely they would allow anyone to use it and simply patented this to protect themselves against patent trolls who could patent it and sue Sony for Death Stranding and its upcoming sequel.

 

[The_Mike]

Hey guys I just submitted a patent on a game mode where two teams battles over getting the opponents flag back to their own base while defending their own.

That is just as stupid as this shit.

 

[Games of Today]

This is actually insane. How did Sony even get this approved.

 

[Shmunter]

Software patents are complete BS.

Yes. The only silver lining is that at least these brainiacs are aware of the value in what has been achieved here.

 

[BreakOut]

I really hate that being able to Patent is even a thing for games. What sucks though is I wonder how much of it is they wanted to own it or how much they just didn’t want someone else to take out a patent and screw them.

 

[BreakOut]

If the patent owner is open to allow other publishers to use it (very likely it's the case, there are tons of patents like this one but I don't remember publishers suing each other for copying ideas), they would be able to use it.

Pretty likely they would allow anyone to use it and simply patented this to protect themselves against patent trolls who could patent it and sue Sony for Death Stranding and its upcoming sequel.

Looks like I was already beat to the punch. This is exactly what I think is going on, wasn’t there recently a patent taken out by another company on something pretty standard?

 

[tusharngf]

they have to patent this because kojima ate all the money during the production. Now they can make some money out of patent. /s

 

[TheInfamousKira]

A Hideo Kojima Patent

Director: Hideo Kojima

Company: Kojima Productions

Starring: Hideo Kojima

 

[Rat Rage]

How is this shit even possible? This is fucking stupid...

 

[hemo memo]

Sadly we now can’t see this great idea outside of this fetch quest game.

 

[hemo memo]

If the patent owner is open to allow other publishers to use it (very likely it's the case, there are tons of patents like this one but I don't remember publishers suing each other for copying ideas), they would be able to use it.

Pretty likely they would allow anyone to use it and simply patented this to protect themselves against patent trolls who could patent it and sue Sony for Death Stranding and its upcoming sequel.

Or maybe fix the broken patent system?

 

[brian0057]

INB4 people conflate patents with copyright.
*reads thread*
Too late, apparently.

 

[yurinka]

Or maybe fix the broken patent system?

How could a company like Sony fix a patent system? Well, not a patent system: many patent systems because there are different ones for different countries or regions.

 

[Solarstrike]

What the hell is wrong with humanity. We'll never stroll through the fields of grain on Mars or work extra hours mining copper in the asteroid belt as long as jerks are in power. What's next? They going to patent low gravity weighted toilet paper? Too bad. I already did that. Fkers.