Turtle Beach patent outlines Wii U-like gamepad with built-in touchscreen [Update]

Update 03/29/2024 8:23pm ET: Despite my best efforts, I wasn’t able to hunt down the original patent tied to this story, and unfortunately, as is sometimes the case with tech blogging, this news has turned into a game of broken telephone.

Thankfully, The Verge‘s Tom Warren found the patent and it appears it’s not actually tied to Microsoft or Xbox at all — at least not directly. In fact, the filing doesn’t mention Xbox anywhere, and it’s unclear what platform the gamepad is designed for.

According to Warren, the controller patent was actually filed by Turtle Beach, a popular video game accessory maker best known for its third-party controllers and headsets. It’s unclear how Video Games Chronicle also missed this important fact or why the publication didn’t link directly back to the patent filing.

https://twitter.com/tomwarren/status/1641232381393731584

The original story is below:

A recently filed Xbox patent outlines a gamepad that allows players to save custom loadouts that can then be accessed via a touchscreen built into the controller.

According to the patent, the display can also track the player’s in-game performance and be used to access various social media features (likely posting clips of gameplay and other photos). Other potential features include audio settings, charge level and more. The patent also mentions that the hypothetical gamepad — which could be called the “Stealth Controller” — is compatible with smartphones through a mobile app.

In a sense, the gamepad sort of seems like a pared-down version of the Wii U’s GamePad or, if you’re old like me, the Dreamcast’s Visual Memory Card (VMU), only its display is designed to show very specific information. It’s worth noting that Game Rant strangely doesn’t link back to the patent link in its coverage and I wasn’t able to find it myself. However, the image looks legitimate and likely exists in a patent database somewhere.

Earlier this week, Microsoft revealed ‘Red’ and ‘Blue’ Elite Series 2 gamepad Core colours, and a few months ago, the tech giant released a custom version of the Elite Series 2 controller.

As is the case with all patents, it’s important to point out that it’s unclear if this gamepad will actually be released. That said, the Elite Series 2 was released back in 2019, so a new version of Microsoft’s high-end gamepad could be in the works — especially considering the build issues the Series 2 has experienced (though the custom version of the gamepad seems to solve most of them).

Via: Game Rant