14 hours ago
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🎮 Sony has obtained a new US patent for a fully customizable controller
🤔 The layout would be customizable, with the main surface being a touchscreen
👉 Users could resize, move, and remove buttons based on the type of game being played
🔥Sony’s patent also says the controller may have pressure and heat sensors to detect inputs
Sony has obtained a US patent for a special kind of controller with a touchscreen that would let players choose where its buttons go.
The patent was filed back in February 2023, according to VGC, but it was issued last week. It’s described as “designs and methods for a game controller”.
According to the description and images in the patent, the top surface of the controller would predominantly be a touchscreen where you’d usually find the buttons.
The idea of the controller is that players would choose where buttons, thumbsticks and other inputs would go to best suit their needs. Of course, we have controllers with swappable thumbsticks and D-Pads, but not to the extent of choosing where those elements go.
This is useful for everything from personal preference or what suits a specific game to things such as accessibility, so everyone can play in comfort.
The patent even seems to suggest that players could resize or even remove buttons entirely to suit the kind of game being played. For instance, games that would require just one D-Pad or thumbstick could remove the unneeded buttons from the layout and resize to make the important controls larger.
Sony’s patent description states that having a fixed controller layout is seen as a “drawback”. It goes on to state that “By way of example, a fixed layout may be too small, or too large, for a user. Similarly, a fixed layout may not be comfortable to a user. Manufacturers typically do not veer from layout or controller size to reduce cost. As result, controllers may include button configurations for hand sizes that do not accommodate all players.”
The patent mentions that the touchscreen would have a pressure sensor and a heat sensor to “detect condition of the input surface”, although it’s not known what this specifically refers to. It may be simple on/off sensors, or these could be more clever ones that can distinguish between an actual input or a finger or thumb simply resting on the touchscreen surface.
Of course, having a patent isn’t an indication of any future development, but it’s interesting to see what Sony may do with this patented tech in the lead up to the PS6 releasing. Could the next PlayStation controller utilize the new technology? We’ll have to wait and see.
Up next: PlayStation Portal OLED could release this year, according to a prominent leaker
Reece Bithrey is a journalist with bylines for Trusted Reviews, Digital Foundry, PC Gamer, TechRadar and more. He also has his own blog, UNTITLED, and graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in International History and Politics in 2023.
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