Sony's new controller patent replaces buttons with touchscreen
Sony’s touchscreen controller patent swaps sticks and buttons for a customizable screen
Sony's touchscreen controller patent has to answer one awkward question: how does a gamepad tell a resting thumb from a real button press? The filing's answer is a set of pressure and heat sensors built into the screen.
Sony filed the application in February 2023, and it has since been issued as a US patent. It describes a large touchscreen covering the area where the d-pad, sticks and face buttons normally sit.
Start with hand size. Sony argues that a fixed layout can be too small or too large for a player and that makers rarely sell different sizes because of the cost. A touchscreen would let one controller fit many hands.
Others do not have any physical buttons at all. But apparently, the patent does not require a completely screen-based controller; therefore, the buttonless controller is just one possibility among many.
You may drag around virtual sticks and buttons, modify them in size, adjust space between buttons and remove those that will not be used in the game; for instance, a platformer would need only one big jump button.
The controller would know whose hands hold it and restore the corresponding saved configuration of controls automatically.
The sensors would monitor the condition of the input surface and thus make the difference between intentional touches and accidental ones, like when your palm touches the front of the controller. KitGuru interprets this as a way to introduce pressure-sensitive controls and dead zones for the input surface.
The sensor cannot replace feel: you have something to locate on the button but not on the screen.
Does the patent mean a PS6 touchscreen controller?
Not necessarily. The PS6 link is speculative, with TechSpot even saying it is very unlikely. Sony patents thousands each year, and most never see the light of day. They also currently sell the Access Controller for players who require specific controls, thus making it unclear what the commercial case would be.
The only expectation, according to KitGuru, would be if anything at all, then a premium optional accessory. However, what this patent application does tell us is where Sony sees things going, controllers which adapt to the player and not vice versa.
