Sony Patents Controller With Movable Grips To Improve Vibrations

A new legal doc published by the company now wants to introduce movable grips on controllers to improve vibrations. The publisher states that the vibration quality of controllers can vary significantly based on how you are holding them, which means that players cannot always have a consistent high-quality experience during gameplay.

The patent dubbed “INPUT DEVICE WITH VARIABLE GRIP” wants to make controller grips movable from their position to adjust to the player’s palms. This change would let us feel the same level of vibrations regardless of the way we hold a controller since there would be no gap left between the grip and the palm.

The grip includes a grip main body, a grip movable portion constituting a part of the side surfaces of the grip, and a vibration motor attached to the grip movable portion. A relative position between the grip movable portion and the grip main body is changeable,” reads the patent.

Sony argues that the “vibration intensity” that reaches the player’s hands can decrease depending on the grip strength, which makes it quite awkward to hold a controller for longer periods. However, when the grip itself moves and sets into a user’s palm, the vibration intensity would no longer be affected. This change would make it quite comfortable to hold PlayStation controllers for hours of intense gameplay.

However, the vibration intensity transmitted to the hand of a user decreases depending on the manner of holding a grip. For example, when a gap is left between the grip and the palm, the vibration intensity transmitted to the hand of the user decreases.”

All in all, the small yet effective addition could completely change how we use Sony controllers.

The publisher has published many eccentric legal documents in the past, including one about a controller that may let you draw your own buttons using electric ink and another that can let you completely change the art style of games. It also published a piece about making haptic feedback work with players’ voices.