Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Sony have reportedly filed a patent for a special pair of controllers that snap onto the side of a portable screen – in this case, your smartphone of choice – and come with small analogue sticks and buttons to allow for convenient on-the-go gaming it’s the JoyCon. I’m not even going to pursue this gag beyond one paragraph. It’s the JoyCon design.
OK, OK, hold thy comments and irate Tweets. Obviously Nintendo have not got a monopoly on the concept of portable gaming, and I’m aware the idea of attachable ‘traditional’ controllers for phones predates the release of the Switch by a fair margin. All I’m saying is it’s a wee bit of a coinkydink that Sony should suddenly decide to patent their own proprietary take on it around the same time Nintendo’s system is routinely smashing sales records and embedding itself into the zeitgeist. Just might be a bit of a correlation there. Maybe I’m nuts and seeing things. It’s a possibility.
Regardless, Eurogamer has the scoop. “The patent was published by Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Japanese division,” they state, “and shows a PS4-esque controller with a screen in the centre.” Ever fancied playing Candy Crush with a DualShock? Uh.. have at it, you loon.
In terms of specs, the controller seems to be rocking its fair share of gizmos inside. The patent describes “a left side grip portion and a right side grip portion gripped by the left and right hands of the user” as well as “a shaft portion that can be tilted by the user, and detect the tilting direction and tilting amount of the shaft portion.” So, two grips containing motion sensors either side of a detachable screen. None of this is ringing a bell – alright, breathe.
Sony CEO shares his thoughts
This move represents another in an emerging trend from the company, who have made no secret of their desire to expand into the mobile world. Jim Ryan, president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, spoke on the matter earlier this year: “We have been thinking about how players enjoy our content and have had some early success with experimenting with mobile games and apps to provide more choice to gamers.
“Mobile is just one of the areas we are exploring to reach millions of gamers beyond our platforms. PlayStation has a huge catalog of diverse first-party IP that can transition to smartphone gaming and complement our AAA games or live service games. We are exploring the mobile market with some wonderful PlayStation franchises so please stay tuned.”
Far be it from me to play favourites. Sony, Nintendo, assorted third parties; I love and hate ’em all in equal measure, so hey, if Sony want to have a crack at this, then by all means I’ll give it a shot. Perhaps it’ll finally give me cause to upgrade my smartphone beyond the brick from 2015 I currently own, to the point where actually playing PlayStation games on it would be feasible.
Ratchet and Clank on the toilet, here I come.
Would you be interested in this product? Should Sony be messing about in this market? Let us know!
Via, Eurogamer.
