In recent years, the discussion about video game difficulty has become a contentious topic that has mostly divided journalists, fans, and the "hardcore gamer". "Should developers at Fromsoftware add difficulty sliders to their titles?", for instance. While hypotheticals like that are a small example, it may be something Sony has expressed interest in exploring. 

A new patent PlayStation has signed will automatically calibrate the difficulty based on the player's level of performance compared to where the artificial intelligent's virtual environment and its collected data. If the player's "input" doesn't correspond to the perceived metrics, the game will get "easier" 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," the patent reads. "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."

This isn't something that is uncommon with video games. Left 4 Dead 2 implemented their A.I. feature (known as The Director), triggering hordes of zombies, Boomers, and Witches at the team, and blocking off routes based on how well you were proceeding. The Mario Kart games have long altered in-game difficulty by allowing those in last place to land a higher chance of getting a dreaded Blue Spiked Shell, Bullet Bill, or Lightning Bolt to ruin everyone's day. This became known as "rubber-banding". Same with the XoF soldiers in Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain. If you rack up a ton of head shots, they will begin wearing protective headgear to prevent Snake from picking them off.

What do you think of this new patent Sony has signed? Will it come into play in future games, and what games could benefit from it?