Sony has filed a patent for a new type of PlayStation controller that looks a bit different from the one people already use or other patents that have been revealed before. Images that conceptualize the controller in the patent that’s found within the World Intellectual Property Organization’s files show a design that looks mostly like the normal DualShock controller except this one has two extra buttons on the back. These buttons appear to be triggers affixed to the left and right sides of the back of the controller, perhaps as extra triggers that can have different inputs mapped to them.

The patent in question can be found here (via Polygon) to show several images of the controller with the extra triggers found along the backside of the device. Located directly behind where the thumbsticks would be located on the front of a controller, these extra buttons are right where you’d find additional paddles if you were using a premium controller with additional mappable buttons.

Descriptions within the patent’s contents don’t explicitly say what the purpose of the triggers is, though one would think that these would be extra customizable buttons to mimic inputs like the face buttons or other triggers. An image from the patent that shows the controller’s design can be seen below, though note that we’ve rotated it to present the controller as you’d typically see it from behind.



Sony has already shown that it’s aware of the demand for that sort of thing with its Back Button Attachment product that lets players snap two extra buttons onto their PlayStation 4 controller, so it looks like this new patent might be building on that. What’s not clear though is whether this patent is for something that we’ll see on the PlayStation 4 or won’t see until the PlayStation 5 is released. If it comes first to the PlayStation 4 though, it’d be a pretty safe bet that the technology would be incorporated some way into the PlayStation 5 controller’s design.

Another less interesting but still noteworthy part of this patent is that the controller in question doesn’t have a PlayStation button in the center of it on the front side. That button is pretty important since it lets you access all of the console menus, though as is the case with all patents, the product designs here could change assuming they’re ever actually brought to market.



Posted: Dec 31, 2019 7:20 am
Related Forum: PlayStation Forum

Source: https://comicbook.com/gaming/2019/12/27/sony-playstation-controller-two-extra-buttons/