TOKYO, September 24 — Sony has filed a patent application for a PlayStation controller that could process contactless credit card payments, allowing players to buy games and in-game items by tapping a card on the gamepad itself. The filing, published Thursday and first reported by the gaming press, describes a controller with an integrated NFC antenna and payment-processing circuitry that could read a contactless bank card or a mobile wallet.
A purchase would be authorized by tapping a card against the controller, with the console handling the transaction through the user’s existing PlayStation Network account. The same NFC reader could also handle tags for other purposes, such as unlocking in-game content.
What Sony has — and hasn’t — said
Sony has not announced any product based on the filing. Patents do not guarantee that a technology will reach the market, and the application specifies no release date or confirmation that the feature will appear in any future hardware. The PlayStation 5, Sony’s current home console, launched in November 2020.
Its DualSense controller includes haptic feedback and adaptive triggers but does not currently support contactless payments. Contactless payment technology, built on NFC standards, is widely used in credit cards, smartphones, and transit systems.
Major card networks, including Visa and Mastercard, have supported contactless payments for years. Embedding an NFC reader in a game controller would be an unusual application of the technology, though not unprecedented in consumer electronics.
The money behind the idea
The timing of the patent’s publication comes as Sony and its competitors continue to expand digital storefronts and in-game purchasing. Digital sales accounted for a majority of Sony’s game software revenue in recent fiscal years. In its fiscal year ended March 31, 2024, Sony reported revenue of about 13 trillion yen (approximately US$87 billion at then-prevailing exchange rates), with its Game & Network Services segment contributing a significant share.
The company has not disclosed any specific revenue targets tied to the patent. Sony Corporation, founded in 1946 and headquartered in Tokyo, is a multinational conglomerate whose businesses include electronics, music, film, and video games.
Its PlayStation brand has been a central part of the console market since the original PlayStation launched in Japan in December 1994 and in North America in September 1995. The PlayStation 2, released in 2000, remains the best-selling home console of all time, with more than 155 million units sold. The PlayStation 4, launched in 2013, sold more than 117 million units.
The PlayStation 5 surpassed 50 million units sold by December 2023, according to Sony.
Security questions remain open
Payment security and parental controls would be central considerations for any such feature. Contactless card transactions typically require additional authentication for larger amounts, and console makers already offer parental control settings to restrict purchases. The patent does not detail how Sony would address fraud or unauthorized purchases.
The filing is a patent application, not a product announcement. Any future implementation would depend on Sony’s business decisions and regulatory approvals.
Investors will note that the company has previously filed patents for a range of experimental features, including a controller that could store and emit scents and a system for personalized in-game advertising. What to watch next: whether Sony moves the concept from filing to hardware, and whether the payment networks and regulators that govern contactless transactions would attach conditions to a controller-based checkout.
