That simple little Share button on the top-left of the DualShock 4, between the d-pad and the touchpad, completely revolutionized screencapturing and livestreaming for console users. Before this PlayStation marvel, even capturing a screenshot or recording video from a console took some hefty (often pricey) equipment. Upon the release of the PlayStation 4 in 2013, Twitch suddenly had a massive influx of new streamers and social media was flooded with in-game captured pics. The Share button helped birth the idea of a Photo Mode, something most players clamor for with PS4 games. It’s hard to imagine not having such easy sharing/streaming access, when it really wasn’t all that long ago when that was the case.
Strangely enough, the concept behind the Share button did not come from the PlayStation design team, but from a former employee at Sony Santa Monica, Nathan Gary. One of the key designers behind the Share button, Toshi Aoki, explained how the concept was born: The concept of sharing was really important to the PlayStation 4 console from the start. At that time, a lot of players who were uploading game videos were using capture boards through their PCs, and it required a lot of setup. In that discussion, we had a lot of members of different departments of SCE [now known as SIE], and our game teams like Naughty Dog, Guerrilla Games, Santa Monica Studio … In one of those discussions, Santa Monica had the idea to simply and easily share out gaming content....