Trying to cheat in online multiplayer is nearly impossible on PlayStation 4 but with PlayStation 5, security measures are being further boosted by Sony. Fact is that modders are going to be hacking away at the next-generation console at launch. Hence, why Sony has a patented system in place to not only detect intruders but to also immediately boot them from the online network.
Patent (US8622837B2) describes a system where Sony can deploy various metrics to be observed on a constant basis. These metrics can be for PlayStation 5 or online games running on the console. Upon discovering any inconsistencies, such as between game-data and game-metrics, the particular user will be “ejected” by the patented system from the network right away. Hence, ensuring a clean PlayStation 5 online community, safe from injected software.
Upon identification of an inconsistency between game data and a game metric, which may indicative of illicit game play, a validation process (e.g., active, passive, and/or hybrid) may be implemented to further confirm the existence of illicit game. Alternatively, an action to maintain integrity of the gaming community may be executed without further confirmation whereby a purportedly illicit game device may be ejected from the network.
The following figure further clarifies how every PlayStation 5 console will be monitored in an endless loop. Once the patented system detects any unusual activity, the network will ping the PlayStation 5 user to fetch data. Validating whether the information is inconsistent with any placed metrics, the system will decide if the user should be allowed to remain on the network or not. The patent potentially describes a bricked console as punishment.
In the case of online multiplayer, developers can set a rules library for the patented system to follow. In such a case, once a PlayStation 5 user has entered the multiplayer lobby, their game-data will be monitored for changes. Should they be different from the prescribed ruleset, they will be booted out.
Such security measures fall right in place with the way Sony has been touting PlayStation 5 to radically change how next-generation games are going to be downloaded and played. In another patent — recently updated, Sony described a method where an application software is split into multiple portions, giving users the freedom to not only download but also execute a particular portion of the application software.
Such a method could also allow players to download the single-player campaign, for example, and start playing while the multiplayer components are being downloaded in the background.
PlayStation 5 has been confirmed to launch in the holidays of 2020 alongside a new controller. DualShock 5 will feature new adaptive triggers that offer varying levels of resistance for immersion, and improved haptic feedback that will work in tandem with the adaptive triggers to respond to every in-game action for what Sony calls “astonishing effects” on PlayStation 5.
