Sony Exploring Controller Joystick Inserts For The DualSense

Highlights

• Sony is exploring new features and adjustments for the PS5 DualSense controller through patents, indicating continuous efforts to improve player immersion and gameplay experience.
• While the controller insert patent might not seem groundbreaking compared to other patented features, it could have a significant impact by allowing players to adjust joystick sensitivity and aiding those with mobility issues.
• The production and availability of this insert remain uncertain. It’s possible the patent will never be used in a commercial product.

A newly filed patent suggests that Sony is looking into controller inserts for the PlayStation 5’s DualSense controller. The DualSense is already considered a cutting-edge controller thanks to its enhanced Haptic Feedback and adaptive triggers, which bring an increased sense of immersion to players by simulating the rumble of driving Kratos’s sleigh through the snow of Midgard in God of War Ragnarok or the pull of Aloy’s bow in Horizon Forbidden West. However, there is always room for improvement, and Sony seems to be experimenting with new features and adjustments for its PS5 controller through patents.

These patents detail a wide range of potential future upgrades for the PS5 DualSense controller, such as an attachable touchscreen that could improve Remote Play, the ability to change temperature to reflect in-game environments or buttons, shoulder triggers, and analog joysticks that light up in time with gameplay. Other controller-related plans that may or may not come to fruition include slots for charging earbuds while playing and even a new, spherical PlayStation 5 controller that could enhance VR gaming.

Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. recently filed yet another PlayStation 5 patent, this time detailing a new joystick insert for the DualSense controller. According to the document, this insert would clip onto the stem of the DualSense’s joystick to limit its movement, which in turn would allow for more precise inputs while playing particularly delicate games or sections. It could also have accessibility applications depending on the player’s needs or skill level, similar to the PlayStation 5 Access controller that launched late last year.

Of course, like any other patent there is no guarantee that Sony’s planned PS5 DualSense controller insert will ever see production, let alone reach store shelves. Sony is constantly filing documentation for a wide range of promising new features for its ninth-generation gaming console – ranging from gameplay roulette systems that would make suggestions to users based on whatever they’ve played in the past to Smell-O-Vision-like systems that could stimulate in-game odors. One recent patent even supports the recent rumors of an upgraded PS5 Pro console with upscaled graphics.

In light of all these patented features, a simple controller insert might not seem like much of a game-changer, but it could have a profound impact on PlayStation 5 owners by allowing them to adjust the sensitivity of the DualSense’s joystick movements during an intense gameplay segment. This could also be helpful for players with mobility issues that might prevent them from making precise movements using a joystick. However, only time will tell if Sony’s latest PlayStation 5 controller insert patient will ever see the light of day as a physical product.