Recently published international patent application WO2026110304, filed by Sony, concerns controller buttons with reactive hardness. The proposed mechanism consists of “a contact part” on the surface of a gamepad that “receives a force applied by the user” and “a hardness control unit that changes the hardness of the contact part.”
Such a device might allow Sony to create controllers with new, never-before-seen features, like the somewhat bizarre ability to grip a video game player’s finger mid-button-press to emphasize on-screen happenings and create a more immersive experience. The advancement of video game hardware is driven by scores of patents that never see commercial application, but Sony’s recent slew of publications suggests that their future console generations might feature unprecedented innovation. In fact, Sony’s been exploring button innovations for years – the PlayStation 2 famously included analog, pressure-sensitive buttons that enabled games like Metal Gear Solid 3 to differently respond to light versus harder taps of a button. We’ll just have to wait and see.
