Sony has announced at Gamescom 2014 a new feature as part of the upcoming System Software 2.0 update for PlayStation 4 consoles: Share Play.

Share Play will allow PS Plus gamers, which is a paid PlayStation Network subscription service, to invite friends to play with them. The feature notably works for gamers who don't actually own the game you want to play. In fact, your friend won't even need to download the game. More specifically, according to Sony, Share Play lets PS Plus members invite any friend to take turns playing games as well as invite another PS Plus member to play in the same session either cooperatively or competitively.

Sony has just published a blog post to further discuss the announcements it made at Gamescom 2014: "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," explained Sony.

With Share Play, according to Sony, you can even let a friend jump into a game to assist you, sort of like handing over the controller to a friend on your couch. In addition, your screen will be shared. Share Play will launch as part of the upcoming System Software 2.0 update, scheduled for release this autumn. Sony also repeated that the System Software 2.0 update will allow gamers to share and upload videos to YouTube.

"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," Sony explained. "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."

Sony said it would announce more System Software 2.0 update features in the coming months.

READ: PlayStation 4 review

Gamescom is an annual trade fair for video games held in Germany. Companies and developers use the trade fair to showcase new product launches, unveil innovations, and announce industry-related news. It all takes place this week, and Pocket-lint will be there to bring you the latest news.

You can watch Sony's press event at 6pm BST, here. The livestream from the event will start shortly before that time.