Key Takeaways
- Sony has filed a patent for a PlayStation controller with a dedicated rewind button, allowing players to revisit past gameplay moments easily.
- This patent would allow players to bookmark moments in games, and then rewind to them with the push of a dedicated button.
- Not all patented features make it into products though, evidenced by past patents like an Elden Ring-style summong system for every game, or hot/cold controllers.
PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo are always pushing boundaries, coming up with new and exciting features that will help us get more out of our consoles, or to justify absolutely eye-watering price tags. Not all of them see the light of day though, as the big three are constantly filing patents for things that may or may not end up as real, bonafide products that we can hold in our hands.
For example, a newly discovered patent from Sony feels like it could be far too wild and ambitious to ever be true, as Tech4Gamers found and shared a patent for a PlayStation controller with a dedicated rewind button. In this patent, it’s explained that Sony has had the idea to give PlayStation controllers the ability to rewind back through the gameplay of any title for a limited amount of time.
Sony explains that this feature would be implemented by allowing players to bookmark certain moments in a game, and then revisit it with a single push of a button, whether it be to catch up on story details that they might have missed, or to replay moments that players thoroughly enjoyed. It pretty much sounds like save scumming, though implemented in every game on a given platform.
Rewinding Gameplay Is Technically Already A Feature In Many Games
There are some already established ways this can be done, including save scumming itself, which is often used in narrative heavy RPGs like Baldur’s Gate 3. A lot of older, retro titles with notorious difficulty settings also have built-in save states that players can use to quickly rewind a title after making a mistake, something which a lot of people consider necessary to beat certain games these days.
Then you have games like the Forza Motorsport series and F1 games, which allow players to rewind time and place themselves back on the track. This patent sounds as though PlayStation wants it to be a feature across every game on a console though, and all with the press of a dedicated button, making it far more ambitious than our current suite of options.
It’s worth keeping in mind that even if a patent is discovered, it doesn’t mean the feature is guaranteed to be implemented in the future. For example, previous PlayStation patents include an Elden Ring-style summoning system, but for every game under the studio regardless of genre, while another DualSense patent described potentially making controllers hot and cold dependent on the situation in the game. Neither of these have actually happened, so we’ll have to wait and see whether this rewind feature ever sees the light of day.
PlayStation DualSense Wireless Controller
The DualSense is the official controller for the PlayStation 5 by Sony, sporting advanced haptic feedback, adaptive triggers, built-in microphone and headset jack, speaker, and responsive touch panel.