Sony to put fans in first-party PlayStation games as part of new Playerbase program

Sony will scan gamers and put them into PlayStation games as part of a new initiative, The Playerbase.

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PlayStation fans will soon have the chance to appear in actual games. It's part of Sony's new program, The Playerbase, which uses advanced Sony capture technology to take the likenesses of real-life fans and put them into digital games. How this works will be different for each game, and the first title to use it, Gran Turismo 7, will have a more limited use of a player's likeness--instead of a full 3D scan, the selected fan will be shown as an in-game portrait with other customization options.

"We're introducing The Playerbase, a unique opportunity for PlayStation's biggest fans to step into some of the biggest game worlds by having their likeness scanned and appear within a PlayStation game," Sony said on the PlayStation Blog.

"If selected to be part of The Playerbase, you will be included in a PlayStation Studios game. Over time, we look forward to expanding The Playerbase as additional PlayStation Studios participate, having fans featured in ways that fit each game's own style and world."

As for the games, Sony has three total slots on the Playerbase website--one is for Gran Turismo 7, but the others have yet to be revealed.

Remember that multiple first-party studios have advanced motion capture tech, including Horizon developer Guerrilla Games in Amsterdam, and Insomniac and Naughty Dog in the United States.

The sky seems to be the limit when it comes to the possibilities for the Playerbase, but this promotion is likely to be fairly limited in scope and execution, and is more of a nod to fans and gamers rather than any kind of business-level shift to cheaper motion/performance capture used in games.

Sony currently has multiple high-profile games in the works, including Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet from Naughty Dog as well as Insomniac's anticipated new Wolverine game. It's possible that Playerbase integration could be worked into these games, or even older games such as Bungie's Destiny 2.