Sony Confirms PlayStation 4 Compatibility With External Gameplay Capture Devices

Tokyo Game Show is going on right now, and yesterday Sony took a significant step in appeasing a segment of the community. While all the details aren't yet revealed, it seems that external gameplay capture devices will function on the PlayStation 4.

The concern stems from high-bandwidth digital content protection (HDCP), which prevents capture of gameplay content via HDMI on the PlayStation 3. Up until now, Sony has avoided the conversation, with the exception of a reassuring tweet from president of worldwide studios Shuhei Yoshida last week. The communication came after concern surfaced amongst those that capture, edit, and monetize footage on YouTube. This was also mentioned via Twitter by president of worldwide studios Shuhei Yoshida.

We announced today that PS4 users will be able to capture their gameplay through HDMI output in the future. We'll update you when ready.

— Shuhei Yoshida (@yosp) September 19, 2013

What is unclear is if this is a system-wide change or something that can be turned on and off by publishers via software. The Share button on the PlayStation 4 controller can be manipulated by developers and publishers, as we reported months ago.

We've reached out to Sony to get clarification and detail around this matter. 

[Source: Ars Technica, @yosp]

Our Take
This is a big step for Sony, especially as it's a significant change from the PlayStation 3. I'd still like to understand the details of how this will work and whether it's a hardware or software function. I'd also like to understand if this will be regulated by content creators. If so, a guarantee from Sony that first-party games will be open would go a long way to reassure a skittish YouTube community.