Is the PS5 Controller About to Get a Major Upgrade?

February 26, 2022, 10:39pm

Is the PS5 controller, the DualSense, about to get a major upgrade? The speculation has been making the rounds within the PlayStation community following the emergence of a new Sony patent with some potentially big implications for the future of the PS5 console. The patent in question involves controller technology, though it’s not clear if the technology is being workshopped for the purpose of the standard PS5 controller or a potential PS5 Pro controller or some type of adaptive PS5 controller. And of course, it could be patent preparation for the PS6. We don’t know. All we know is it looks like PlayStation may not be done innovating in controller technology. The DualSense was a big break from the DualShock, and this patent seems to suggest PlayStation is eager to build upon this innovation with further evolution.

A new Sony patent has surfaced and it’s for a video game controller. Now, the patent makes no mention of the PS5, but it’s safe to assume at the very least this is PlayStation related because why else would Sony be filing patents for controller technology. As for the patent itself, it’s for a collapsable control stick.

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“A controller, thumbstick, or system comprising a thumbstick body, a thumbstick shaft coupled to the thumbstick body wherein the thumbstick shaft is configured to retract into the thumbstick body and wherein the thumbstick body and the thumbstick shaft is freely rotatable together around a pivot center within the controller body,” reads an excerpt from the patent.

The patent was filed on June 22, 2021, but was only published this month. So, it’s pretty new, but it remains to be seen if it will graduate from concept to actual product. Not only does it sometimes takes years for patents to come to fruition, but they often never evolve past the conceptual stage. Sony has filed a metric of gaming patents that we never heard from ever again.

At the moment of publishing, Sony has not commented on this patent, it surfacing, nor the speculation it has created. Typically, it doesn’t comment on anything pertaining to its patents, so we don’t expect it to comment on this one, but if it does, we will be sure to update the story accordingly.

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H/T, Coindipender.