PlayStation has focused on making its DualSense controller immersive, with built-in speakers and haptic feedback, and Sony is now tinkering with new immersive options.
Sony Interactive Entertainment has published a novel patent for a new type of controller whose buttons can adjust their pressure resistance (making them harder or softer to press) to adapt to what’s shown on screen. Sony first filed the patent with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the United Nations’ (UN) patents agency, back in 2024. Then, the website Cheat Happens uncovered the patent after it was officially published in May 2026, and today, it was brought to light. An image and description of what the patent would sound like in practice were shared and can be seen below.
The official patent reads, “This operation device is provided with an operation member (20) that receives an operation from a user. The operation device is provided with: a contact part (23) that is disposed on the surface of the operation member (20) and receives a force applied by the user for the operation; and a hardness control unit (24) that changes the hardness of the contact part (23).” So basically, PlayStation is introducing tactile feedback to buttons, which would make the player experience more immersive depending on the situation or game being played.
It’s worth noting that PlayStation doesn’t release or produce every product for which they draft a patent. Before 2022, PlayStation drafted a patent for a banana-shaped controller, based on the idea that any object could function as a controller. Thankfully, the DualSense is here, and it doesn’t have a peel or a banana shape. What it might have in the future, however, is more tactile feedback on its buttons, or it might not. While there is a wealth of patents applied every year (Sony even patented an AI system that would help you complete your games), not everything goes to market, and it’s possible this idea doesn’t either.
