Share Play Coming To PS4 Tuesday: Here's What You Need To Know

Sony will launch its highly anticipated Share Play on Tuesday as part of its 2.0 software update, its largest PS4 update yet. The update, codenamed Masamune, calls the new feature a “virtual couch,” which will allow users to watch friends play games online and even virtually pass their controllers to other players.

"This update adds unique, forward-looking features like Share Play, and addresses some of the most highly requested features from the community, including YouTube integration, USB music player, ability to find players you may know, sorting options for PS4′s game library, and themes that change the look of your home screen," Sony said in a blog post on Monday.

The Share Play feature will have three main components. The first will give players the ability to share their games with friends online, allowing them to watch and drop helpful tips. PlayStation Plus isn’t required for this.

The second aspect of Share Play is the ability to swap controllers. Players can trade their controllers with a friend and watch them play, even if that friend doesn’t have the game downloaded. It seems Sony really wants fans to introduce players to new games. Hosts will have to have a PlayStation Plus subscription, but guests don’t.

The third feature of Share Play allows friends to play games virtually with others. If games support local multiplayer, friends can join games as second players. Visitors don’t need to own or download games to use this feature, but both must have PlayStation Plus subscriptions.