Who thought of the PS4’s Share button?

Months after Sony's grand unveiling of the PlayStation 4, we finally know who thought of the system's intriguing share button. The next iteration of Sony's PlayStation console will place heavy emphasis on the user's ability to share their gaming experience through uploaded gameplay footage. By simply pressing the "share" button on the PS4 DualShock 4 controller, the player will be able to scan through automatically recorded gameplay footage, edit it directly through the PS4's video editor, and upload it for the world to see. Judging from early user interface screenshots, it looks like it will be a seamless process — all thanks to this magical share button.

But who thought of this? Although Mark Cerny is the PlayStation 4's lead system architect, he wasn't actually the man responsible for the idea. Rather, it game from none other than Sony Santa Monica creative director Nathan Gary, according to the latest report from Edge.

Speaking to the publication, Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida explained, "“After the core hardware, the CPU and GPU, had been decided the project shifted to designing and discussing what should be the user experience of people who be playing games on PS4. So we formed the cross-functional groups of people from SCEI hardware group and Worldwide Studios and Sony network services teams to meet every month, almost. And Mark [Cerny] was heavily involved and leading some discussions. And the idea of sharing and seamless integration with social networks, that was heavily discussed.

“I think it was [creative director] Nathan Gary in Santa Monica studios who suggested it: how about adding a dedicated button on the controller so that everybody can just press that button to share? He was helping out the external development, heavily involved in helping the development of Journey and Unfinished Swan at Santa Monica Studios.”

“So Nathan put together a Powerpoint and pitched in this Share button idea. And we all went, that’s a brilliant idea! So it was a pretty quick decision after he suggested it and I’m sure he’s pretty proud of his contribution. That was after many months of discussion of how people should be using the PS4 system and sharing was one of the central experiences we wanted to include in the system’s development," Yoshida concluded.

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[Edge]