Sony Patents PlayStation Controller That Lets You Tap a Credit Card to Buy Games - News
by William D'Angelo , posted 6 days ago / 1,873 Views
Sony has filed a new patent application for the PlayStation controller that will let you tap a credit card or phone to make purchases without the need to enter the information directly into a PlayStation console.
The patent, reported by Dexerto, was filed in March 2025 and published on September 17, 2026. It is titled "Video Game Controller-Driven Information Transfer."
One example in the patent, the console asks for payment information and prompts the player to brings their phone close to the controller in order to retrieve the details and sends them to the console. NFC and Bluetooth are possible ways listed for the devices to communicate.
The filing also says the payment could come from a "a credit card or a gift card" held near the controller. One illustration shows a gift card being used that even shows the remaining balance.
The new way to pay with a controller could be used to buy games, in-game credits and add-ons. It also mentions someone buying a game after trying a demo at a store or gaming expo.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.
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I mean I'd rather tap my credit card in stores to buy the physical version of the games.
Could come in handy. I'd rather do this than store my payment info in the store or on the console
Is Paypal not an option on the PS store?
And then your games are likely deleted after a few months.
Playstations version of Amiibo
For the payers!
This is a horrible idea. If Xbox did this first, the feedback would be majority negative.
The normal way was perfectly fine.
There's nothing terrible about this and the technology is not specific to credit cards, its just NFC, so can be used for toys etc
Now just release some games worth buying please
Basically its tap to pay. This may actually be a better option for people intstead of having their information stored on the console. Really depends on a persons situation. I have been in a situation where I needed that option.
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sony shareholders want more
Why not just make a credit card that looks like a controller?
I guess why not. Although I'm an old fart who doesn't trust tapping in stores and I probably won't trust this either. But don't let me slow everybody else down.
This makes me wonder that if they use this patent for PS5, are we going to get a slightly changed DualSense (with this feature and maybe some other small tweaks) that replaces the old one? Even DualShock 4 had a revision.
