Since we first unveiled PlayStation 4 and its deep social capabilities, including the SHARE button, we’ve seen an outpouring of excitement from gamers. The PS Nation has rallied around a culture focused on sharing epic gaming moments through Live From PlayStation, interactive streaming, SHAREfactory, What’s New and Photo Mode in exclusive PS4 games like Infamous Second Son and The Last of Us Remastered. Let’s go a step further together. Let’s go from sitting back and watching friends play to actually jumping into games remotely and sharing great experiences together in real time. Today at the PlayStation press conference at Gamescom, we will deliver on yet another promise from the PS4 announcement and introduce Share Play, coming to PlayStation 4 later this fall.

The best way to think about Share Play is like a “virtual couch”. PlayStation 4 will create an online local co-op experience by allowing you to invite a friend to join your game—even when they don’t own a copy of it. With this first-of-its-kind feature, you’ll be able to play games with a friend just as if you were together in the same room. Let’s say that with games… you’ll be able to invite your friend online to play against the Miami Heat for the championship as the San Antonio Spurs in NBA2K, tackle the challenging Towerfall Ascension Quest Mode together, or aide, heal, and protect you as Igniculus in Child of Light’s local co-op mode.

With Share Play, you can even jump into a game to assist a friend. For example, if there is part of a game that you can’t quite finish, you can invite a friend to take over your controls. Like handing over the controller to a friend on your couch, your screen will be shared as your friend gets through the part of the game that has been giving you trouble—can’t get past that part in The Last of Us: Remastered when you’re hanging upside down? Get a little help.

Share Play will be coming to PS4 as part of the upcoming system software update v2.00, scheduled for release this fall. The update will also add highly requested broadcast and video share features, including both uploading you game play footage and dedicated app support for YouTube, which we mentioned on stage at E3. Finally, What’s New will get enhanced real-time activity through friend-of-friend suggestions, allowing instant access to friends’ and recently played games’ broadcasts, and a real name search function will also be added. More features to come when v2.00 is made available this fall, and we will have more to announce in the coming months..

We always want to hear your feedback and look forward to what you are most excited to experience together first Share Play when the feature comes to PS4 this fall. What will you co-op first with Share Play?