As many video game companies continue to develop innovative ways to guide the industry into the future, Sony has patented a system for smart parental controls. Parental controls haven't always been a gaming feature, with the original consoles requiring simple workarounds like confiscating the power cord, but Sony may have the next improvement for future generations.
The very first parental controls were introduced in the 1990s, but they were very primitive when compared to today's technology or the new system that Sony has patented. In most cases, these controls allow parents to implement restrictions into a console or game that will prevent their kids from putting too many hours into their favorite titles and not enough into homework or chores. Because there are still plenty of ways for these systems to improve, Sony continues to innovate on the tools to help parents limit access while providing some fairness for the gamers.
According to the Sony parental control patent recently filed, the system may be altered to allow parents to stop gameplay when a stage, match, or boss fight has been completed. The changes will be able to calculate how much time it roughly takes to defeat a certain boss or complete a level which will give parents more control in stopping the gameplay once these important moments conclude. The patent will use these natural in-game moments where things quiet down to automatically stop the on-screen action where it feels right rather than allowing the player to continue moving their character around with the DualSense controller.
Although many aspects of this are automatic like other Sony patents before it, it's likely that parents will have to input certain parameters into the system before it will be able to stop gameplay at adequate moments. Utilizing these changes, a child that stops playing before their allotted time may automatically be rewarded with more game time for their next session by comparing an expected end time with when the game is shut down. The latest Sony patent references certain thresholds which may suggest that parents can select from some options that will be automatically enabled when their child is playing a game, providing different tiers to choose from depending on what's right for the household.
Parents have dragged their kids away from games at inconvenient times for years, but this Sony patent may prevent that due to its ability to predict when the gameplay has entered a lull. Beyond single-player experiences, this Sony patent may also be implemented for online games like Apex Legends or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 to help parents prevent excessive Sony console usage.