We already know that the PlayStation 5 is coming next year, and that its controller will have a few new tricks up its sleeve (more on those later). And now, we might have an idea of what that new controller could look like, based on images from a patent filed in Japan.

At first glance, the controller looks a lot like a DualShock 4 — which isn’t too surprising. In a hands-on, Wired described a prototype of the PS5’s controller as looking “an awful lot like the PS4’s DualShock 4.” And you can see a lot of elements carried over from the DualShock 4: a similar-looking D-pad, similar button placement, and what appears to be the touch bar. I also noticed that the grips seem to be a little wider and more rounded. There’s a weird square under the PlayStation button, but I’m not quite sure what that is.

Looking at the controller from other angles reveals that the thumb sticks appear to be a bit shorter than those on the DualShock 4, there’s a USB-C port on the back (which we knew from Wired’s hands-on), and, apparently, the light bar on the back of the controller is gone:

Grid View













If you’re curious, here’s an image of this controller design compared to the patented design for the DualShock 4, as shared by ResetEra user gofreak (who made more images comparing the two controllers here):

We do want to caution that these designs from the patent probably reflect what Sony was thinking about at the time it filed the patent — all the way back on March 20th. So there’s always the chance that the controller you hold in your hands in 2020 could be different than what’s pictured in the patent, but it’s fun to imagine what the new controller might look like.

Sony has already shared a few concrete details about what’s new with the PS5’s controller. One change is that it will use haptic feedback instead of rumble technology. It will also have “adaptive triggers” for the L2 and R2 buttons, which can be programmed by developers to give the player different levels of resistance. These could be used to better simulate the feeling of drawing a bow, for instance. However, Sony hasn’t yet given a name for the new controller — though if past history is anything to go by, I’d guess it might be called the “DualShock 5.”

We also might have a hint of what the dev kit for the PlayStation 5 could look like — and it’s got a much more surprising design than the PS5’s new controller. In August, a law firm representing Sony registered an industrial design in Brazil for a wild-looking device — which Gizmodo says matches a photo of a developer kit for the PlayStation 5 sent to them by a tipster. Here’s the registered design image:

I’d be very surprised if the final PS5 actually looked anything like this, though, as development kits usually look much different than the console you buy at the store. But it’s fun to imagine this vent-y monstrosity chugging away in game studios around the world as developers gear up for the next generation of consoles.