Sony Interactive Entertainment America filed an updated patent in October for what seems to be a new controller with a touchscreen built into it. The patent was filed to the United States Patent Office and actually includes a lot of information regarding the piece of technology that Sony wants to get a hold of.
The patent filing for this “gaming controller” is very technical, but as discovered by u/AlphaFoxWarfare – it does pinpoint some sort of touchscreen addition.
“A controller for interfacing wirelessly with a computing device is provided, including the following: a housing defined by a main body, a first extension extending from a first end of the main body, and a second extension extending from a second end of the main body, the first extension and the second extension for holding by a first hand and a second hand of a user, respectively; a touchscreen defined along the top surface of the main body between the first extension and the second extension; a first set of buttons disposed on the top surface of the main body proximate to the first extension and on a first side of the touchscreen; and a second set of buttons disposed on the top surface of the main body proximate to the second extension and on a second side of the touchscreen.”
If you didn’t understand any of that, it basically pinpoints some of the most basic features of the controller and highlights that one specific touchscreen component. This gives us a rare glance into the thoughts of Sony and PlayStation’s R&D department.
The patent describes the controller just like a DualShock 4, so it could wind up being a version of that controller with a “touchscreen”. While it’s possible that this patent is just an updated filing for the existing PlayStation controller, the added feature is definitely something to take note of.
Whether or not we end up seeing this implemented into a new version of the DualShock 4, or maybe – just maybe – a hint at the PlayStation 5’s controller, time will have to tell. We recommend taking this with a grain of salt, due to a previous Sony patent which turned out to just be an unsubstantiated update to the existing PlayStation DualShock controller.
DualShockers will let you know if anything changes regarding this story or if Sony makes an official announcement regarding this controller.