Summary
A recently publicized patent filed bySonysuggests that the company is developing an eye-tracking system for VR games which would allow in-game responses to the direction of a player’s gaze. The listing for the patent, titled “Using Gaze Tracking to Effect Player Choices in Multi Player Interactive Narratives,” indicates that it was originally filed on July 23, 2025, around the same time that othercompanies including Microsoft were announcing similar eye-tracking patents.
Virtual reality technology has seen a lot of progress and innovation in recent years, andSonyis among the major corporations pushing innovations in VR for use in video games. The company produces the PlayStation VR headset, one of the main VR gaming headsets currently on the market, and it has filed similar patents in the past pertaining to new VR technologies.
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However, this new patent is a bit strange, not only due to the nature of the technology described, but also because of the bizarre examples provided for how the system could be used. Simply put, the patent describes a system which would allow a VR headset to track the wearer’s eye movements, and provide feedback based on the direction of their gaze, the dilation of their pupils, and more. The patent proposes using this technology in multiplayer games specifically, although other Sony projects have already demonstrated the potential uses ofeye tracking in single-player VR horror gamesas well.
What is most strange about the patent filing is that, in describing how the technology could be used, Sony gives an example of staring at someone’s cleavage. Beginning in paragraph 26 of the patent’s Description section, a scenario is described in which two players are interacting in a multiplayer game, one controlling a customer while the other controls the shopkeeper. In this scenario, the shopkeeper character appears as “a woman outfitted in a low-cut blouse,” and they may be offered different dialogue options if, during the conversation, “the customer player’s gaze drifts to the shopkeeper’s low-cut blouse (staring at her cleavage).” According to the patent, these dialogue choices may include “My eyes are up here” or, interestingly, “I see that you like what you see.” It is unclear how the suggestive interactions implied by this example might be limited bySony’s efforts to censor age-restricted content in VR.
Even without venturing into the speculation that this suggestive example seems to invite, this filing on its own is quite strange. While Sony is not the onlygaming company announcing bizarre patentslately, this particular piece of eye tracking technology stands out thanks to the eyebrow-raising implications of how it might be used. Inappropriate suggestions about possible applications will always be made about systems like this, but it is truly bizarre to see a company seemingly making such suggestions itself, in its own patent filing.
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