Immersion Collects Its First Sony Royalty Check on PS5 Controller

Immersion licenses its haptics technology to Sony for the DualSense controller on the PlayStation 5, and received its first royalty report and revenue from Sony in Q4, said interim CEO Jared Smith on a quarterly call Thursday. The royalty proceeds were “in line with our expectations and we continue to expect the platform and controller to be very successful,” he said. “The positive market reception of the DualSense controller has catalyzed increased market interest in haptics, which we're seeing across the industry, as well as in our customer and partner engagements.” Sony debuted the PS5 Nov. 12 in the U.S. and Nov. 19 elsewhere, selling 4.5 million consoles in the quarter ended Dec. 31 (see 2102030025). Sony said it’s on pace to sell 7.6 million PS5 in its fiscal year ending March 31 but is having trouble keeping up with demand. Smith is “very happy about the Sony license, and the scope and the economics and the potential” of the royalty agreement, he said. “Sony has a strong track record with their consoles, and they shipped over a long period of time in high volume.” Immersion is trying to seed wider market adoption of haptics in smartphones, and a newly published ATSC 3.0 recommended practice will enable adding haptics to NextGenTV broadcasts and broadband content streams for reception on mobile devices “capable of haptic feedback,” said Smith. Immersion Q4 revenue fell 5% year over year.