New Sony patent proposes PlayStation mobile controller

A newly discovered Sony Interactive Entertainment patent has revealed what appears to be a DualShock 4 controller designed specifically around mobile gaming.

As discovered by VGC after it was published earlier this week, the new patent comes courtesy of Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Japanese division and shows the companies heightened focus on the lucrative mobile gaming market.

Featuring a centre section to mount a mobile device, and PlayStation controller grips on either side, this new patent is almost exactly what we would have expected if somebody told us Sony was making a new dedicated mobile gaming controller. 

Rather strangely the newly published patent shows a controller that’s based on the PlayStation 4’s DualShock 4, rather than the newer and more feature-rich DualSense controller from the PlayStation 5. 

According to the patent, the rather simplistic drawings omit more interesting features such as “a shaft portion that can be tilted by the user, and detect the tilting direction and tilting amount of the shaft portion.” Presumably, the centre portion would also be adjustable to fit a number of mobile devices. 

While it is currently unclear if or when we’ll get to see this new PlayStation mobile controller, it’s hopefully a sign of good things to come for the mobile gaming market. If we’re really lucky, Sony might even release PlayStation Now on mobile devices to compete with Xbox Cloud Gaming.