We’ve learned from a well-placed source that Sony will introduce more extensive privacy options with the PS4, notably the ability to hide portions of your gaming activity akin to Xbox Live. This has been a requested feature for some time, and quite frankly it’s surprising it hasn’t already been added.

As our source points out, there’s already concrete evidence that points to the inclusion of these privacy features starting in PS3 firmware 4.45. If you do a little digging, API endpoints for “set_privacy_level” and “get_privacy_level” can be found under specific PSN trophy functions. Additionally, all endpoints for grabbing trophy data have been prefixed with “_privacy”. Here’s the full list:

get_latest_trophies_privacy
get_multi_user_info_privacy
get_modified_title_privacy
get_trophies_privacy
get_title_list_privacy

Given the functionality already seems to be implemented at a network and firmware level, it’s possible we may see these features surface in a later PS3 firmware in the coming months, but if not, when the PS4 drops later this holiday season is a likely bet.