Sony works on a very interesting new technology regarding game difficulty

Sony is developing a new technology that modifies a game's complexity in real-time, according to a newly published patent.

The new patent describes a technique that will be used to analyze how a player interacts with in-game mechanics and features in order to modify the overall complexity of the situation the player is experiencing. By using algorithms created to evaluate the player interactions with the virtual world discussed above, this technology—officially named "Adaptive Difficult Calibration For Skills-Based Activities In Virtual Environments"—functions.

The idea behind this technology is to extend the amount of time that a player spends playing a game because games that use it will dynamically adjust the level of difficulty to ensure that the player is playing at just the right level of difficulty—not too hard that they would want to give up and try again later. The problems that players face will determine their level of proficiency, and with this technology, players will essentially be able to have a customized in-game difficulty experience.

The patent abstract description can be read below:

Methods of the present disclosure may collect data when a user plays one or more different types of games when determinations are made as to whether the difficulty of a game should be changed. The collected data maybe evaluated to identify whether a user gaming performance level corresponds to an expected level of performance. When the user gaming performance level does not correspond to an expected level of performance, parameters that change the difficultly of the game may be changed automatically.

Parameters that relate to movement speed, delay or hesitation, character strengths, numbers of competitors, or other metrics may be changed incrementally until a current user performance level corresponds to an expectation level of a particular user currently playing the game. At this time, the user expectation level may be changed, and the process may be repeated as skills of the user are developed over time.