Sony wants the DualSense to handle your checkout.
A new Sony patent describes a system that could let PlayStation controllers, the DualSense included, be used for digital purchases. The application was filed in March 2025 and published on September 17, and it lays out a method for wirelessly passing payment details from your phone to the console, with the controller sitting in the middle as the go-between.
Tap your phone, feel the buzz
The document points to NFC and Bluetooth as the ways the devices would talk to each other. It also mentions a connection through physical contact, so pressing the phone against the controller isn’t off the table either.
Once the controller detects your phone, it can let you know with haptic feedback, sound, lighting or some mix of the three. (Yes, your controller might rumble to tell you it found your wallet.)
Crypto wallets make the list
The patent covers buying games, DLC, digital currency and in-game items. And the payment methods it names are broad: credit cards, bank accounts, gift cards, digital wallets and cryptocurrency wallets all get a mention.
For now this is a patent application, which means Sony has described the idea rather than shipped it. What it envisions is a controller that lights up, buzzes or chimes the moment your phone comes near, then quietly moves the money.
