Developers Don’t Want Players to Look Down at a DualShock 4 Touchscreen

There was a time when the DualShock 4 went above and beyond the current touchpad that it supports. Instead of simply using the middle of the PlayStation 4 controller for small swipes and gestures, Sony tested out including a full screen that players would be able to view whenever they took their eyes off the TV. However, developers weren’t too keen on the idea of diverting attention from the main screen in order to look at a miniature version of the action, and that sentiment played a big role in the eventually removal of the touchscreen.

Product planning manager Toshimasa Aoki recently spoke to GamesBeat about the long, interesting road the DualShock 4 has taken. Like any other piece of hardware, there were many iterations before the final product was decided upon.

"A touchscreen was another idea that we had," Aoki told GamesBeat. "We actually tested it, but [besides cost factors], our game teams felt like having to look down at the controller is not what they want to do. They want to have the consumers concentrated on the big picture that they show [on the TV]."

Nintendo currently sports a large screen in the middle of the Wii U controller, but that particular novelty hasn’t exactly led to sales success. Maybe a few interesting ideas could have come from a screen on the PS4’s controller, but the highly positive response to the DualShock 4 makes it seem like Sony made the right call.