'Oddworld' Creator Says PlayStation 5's Unannounced Social Features Do Really Clever Things

Veteran game designer and creator of “Oddworld Soulstorm” Lorne Lanning says that the social features of the coming PlayStation 5 will enable developers to “open the experience” of their games.

These social features have largely been unannounced and not promoted by Sony as most of the talk concerning the PlayStation 5 has revolved around the console itself, the DualSense controller, the digital-only console option, and of course, the games.

Lanning mentioned in the latest issue of Official PlayStation Magazine that the next-gen console would incorporate more social elements traditionally confined to the internet, Video Games Chronicle reports.

“Before we’d say, ‘OK, I’m playing my console game…’ and there’s connectivity and there are friends, sharing of stats and stuff like this, but a lot of it, you’re still going to the web to engage in the discussion,” Lanning said.

“I think we’re going to see in this generation a lot more of that interlaced, where you’re not leaving the console as much to go get the other data… It’ll be really interesting to see how much the audience takes to it and what they do with it, and what developers do with it,” he added.

“[To] get into the sharing capabilities, the social stuff that’s been built into PS5 – I’m still not sure how much I can really talk about… I want to be careful, but they’re doing a lot more things that are like, enabling you to sort of open your experience a little wider to your human network of people that you’re connected with,” Lanning teased.

Earlier this year, a PS5 system menu feature was mentioned in a Sony patent. The patent describes a system which provides dynamic game hints, by determining that the user has been repeatedly attempting to overcome a challenge and then providing hints on the system menu.

That same social feature seems to be what Lanning is referring to when he said, “[There are] ways that it’s enabling, sort of helping [with] problems that you might be having in the game, more intelligent monitoring of people having difficulty and – I wouldn’t say AI-level, but it’s kind of smart things that are going on.”

He went on to say, “Like, if you take advantage of this new feature, you’ll be able to help your players where they normally get stuck in this way.”

“And so there are some really clever things going on there that involve this sort of extension into other networks, other people, other points of feedback and giving people more information on how to play the game better, how other people might play or solve these problems,” Lanning concluded.

Eric Lempel, SVP and head of global marketing at Sony Interactive Entertainment, recently claimed that the PS5 will have the best lineup of games in the history of the PlayStation, however, this is one of the few times that the unit’s social features are being discussed publicly.

This new feature that can assist players having difficulty in a game would be an interesting new thing in gaming to say the least. The networking possibilities of the PS5 should also pique the interest of not just developers but gamers who are thinking about buying the new console when it comes out.