The PS5 may have a spoiler lock feature – this is how it might work

The PlayStation 5 could have a spoiler-lock feature that would prevent players from viewing content that reveals parts of games they haven’t seen themselves.

That’s according to a USPO patent filed by Sony (via Inverse) in October 2019, which outlines plans for a “cross-platform spoiler blocking service.”

According to the patent, this spoiler-blocking feature would allow the PS5 to establish where it is in a game based on the items found, trophies collected, etc., and then prevent it from viewing content that has not yet arrived. However, you could disable this feature if you don’t want it.

Apparently, this spoiler filter will work similarly to PlayStation 4’s hidden trophy feature, with developers marking specific objects as ‘hidden’ through a ‘proper tool’, until the player discovers them themselves.

According to the patent, this spoiler filter could be applied to “activities, entities, environments, results, actions, effects, locations, and character statistics.”

“The technology revealed here can allow players to interact with friends and the community around narrative games with the confidence that they won’t accidentally see spoilers (which may include an activity, character, item, result of the activity, action, effect, location and attribute of the character or item), “declares the patent.” This approach may result in an increase in the number of single-player PvE players and cooperatives who get socially involved in those games, with their friends and the community at large. ” .

More commitment

It’s unclear if this spoiler-blocking feature would extend to PlayStation web browsing or if it would only apply to PlayStation services, but it appears that the latter is more likely.

While Sony hasn’t announced that a spoiler-lock feature is coming to the PS5, it would make sense. Sony seems to be putting an emphasis on community and next-gen user-generated content, with a ‘Share’ button included in the DualSense PS5 controller, and it seems the company believes that a feature like this would encourage people to get involved in the PlayStation community once again.