PlayStation Patent May Hint at a New DualSense Controller Attachment

Sony may be looking into bringing one of its PlayStation controller customizations to the PlayStation 5‘s DualSense controller according to a recently discovered patent. The patent that was filed last year and published earlier this month shows the familiar “Back Button” attachment affixed to a controller, the same one that added two extra mappable buttons to the DualShock 4 controller. No mentions of the DualSense controller were found in the patent details, but the theory behind the timing of the patent is that the same sort of attachment is planned for the DualSense.

The patent spotted by IGN shows exactly what we’ve seen from the Back Button attachment when it was released from PlayStation 4 controllers. It’s the same sort of attachment with a round centerpiece flanked by two different paddle-like attachments that can be mapped with different inputs.

The purpose of this Back Button accessory and other additional input mechanisms like it is to give players more buttons to press to make certain actions quicker with less movement required. Controllers released previously like the Scuf Vantage 2 have shown the appeal of these sorts of attachments when players are able to save time by mapping things like reload, jump, crouch, and any other desired commands to the paddles.

While we’ve seen the diagrams laid out in the patent realized in person since the Back Button has been out for a while now, the timing of the patent is worth taking note of. The information listed in the World Intellectual Property Organization’s files shows that the patent was filed on June 29, 2020, a date which was just over six months after the date the Back Button attachment was out. The patent was only published on February 4, 2021. Despite there being no mention of the DualSense, this indicates that there’s intent to bring the same sort of device forward to the current generation of consoles and controllers.

Doing so would be a welcome development for many PlayStation users who wished that the DualSense had that sort of feature to start with. With the Back Button accessory being released for the DualShock 4 before the PlayStation 5 was fully unveiled, many suspected that the next-gen controller for the PlayStation 5 would come with extra paddles built into it or at least an option to customize it in that way. Neither option was available at launch, though that might be changing to some degree if the patent leads to the conclusion that many have already drawn.