A new Sony Interactive Entertainment patent that’s recently been filed might foreshadow the arrival of amiibo-like magnetic toys at some point in the future. While we don’t know what these might be used for, hopefully some Sony announcement at some point in the future will elaborate on it more, along with its function.

From what we can see in the patent, the device runs much on Amiibo-style principles. Upon being attached to a magnetic base, the toys in question will send a signal through the device that’s dependent on what toys are on the platform to the actual game console. The Patent reads:

The objective of the present invention is to achieve low cost and high durability in a toy system in which it is possible to determine a status of a separate toy.

Ever since Nintendo popularized the concept of Amiibos for Super Smash Bros Wii U, the technology has been used in a number of other games, both from Nintendo and others. Ubisoft, for instance, released Starlink: Battle for Atlas back in 2019.

Starlink allowed players to buy customizable ships with various different parts to alter your weapons with, which would change your ship on the game between missions. However, that system was not patented by Sony, and the game was released on multiple platforms including the Playstation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.

The new Sony patent may be intended to allow the company to make use of their own system for those kinds of toys, especially given the number of popular characters that are currently available to play as on the Playstation 4 and across the Playstation’s history.

Exactly what they might be using a device like this for remains to be seen, but it might be yet another feature for the Playstation 5. That console still has yet to be revealed, despite rumors saying that we would be getting an official reveal during February or March.

But whatever this new Sony patent ends up showing off, whether it sparks another Amiibo craze similar to what happened when the figurines first came out all depends on what Sony intends to use it for. You can see what the patented device actually might look like in the picture at the top of this article.