According to a new patent filed by Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. at the World Intellectual Patent Organization, the console maker may be moving to a simpler model for game development by putting the necessary hardware for game development into a host PC or server. Patent W02025170845 details a design that effectively puts "compute resources substantially similar to compute resources of a retail game console" onto a PCIe card and allows communication and translation between the host system and the on-board APU, storage, and other console hardware via a specialized management engine.

The patent details that this idea was partially inspired by the difficulties developing games for proprietary console hardware, but it also references cloud gaming, suggesting these slot-in cards may also come in handy as cloud compute modules that can be used in servers to support game developers who don't have access to dev kit hardware. A slot-in solution like this could also theoretically allow developers more freedom when it comes to testing and diagnosis, since they would be able to use hardware and software testing tools connected to the host system, instead of having to rely on built-in diagnostics and hardware support. The patent also specifically mentions being able to capture video from the host system, which could also help diagnostics and game optimization.

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