Sony controller patent points to potential PS5 permutations

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  Patent images showing a potential PlayStation 5 controller design. Perspective view. [credit: Sony / Japanese patent office ]

New images from a Japanese Sony patent, first filed in March and recently published by the Japanese patent office, seem to show a new version of Sony's DualShock controller. The patent images display some potential changes to the hardware for next year's planned release of the PlayStation 5.

Sony system architect Mark Cerny previously discussed the PlayStation 5's new controller in an interview with Wired last month. That interview mentioned that the new system's controller would sport a USB-C connector for charging and a potential wired data connection. And while the newly published patent images resemble the PS4's existing DualShock 4 in many ways, the port at the top appears to be USB-C rather than the USB-B micro connector on the DualShock 4.

There are a few other changes in the patent images that do not reflect potential controller changes Sony has publicly discussed. Chief among them is the apparent omission of the DualShock 4's lightbar. That lightbar's ability to glow in different colors was often used as a gimmick by game developers to indicate health or other in-game status effects, but it was also positioned in a way that was hard for players to use it or see it effectively. More importantly, many PlayStation VR games used that lightbar in conjunction with the PlayStation Eye camera to track the controller's position in space, a function that would not be possible in the same form on the patented controller.

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