Earlier this year, it was revealed that Google is exploring a game streaming service powered by Chromecast, and a newly-discovered patent shows off what could be the controller that service would be dependent on.
By the end of this month, Google will be hosting an event that would revolve around its the rumored streaming service, which in past reports has been likened to a “Netflix for games” and is said to be developed on the technology Google built for its Project Stream trial last year.
The patent itself is for a notification system for the controller that notifies a player when a game is now available, that a user has received an invitation, a status chance on a leaderboard, or a chat request from another player.
Yet the patent also comes with a series of illustrations showing how the controller might be designed, including a dual-joystick setup, shoulder and trigger buttons, and the directional d-pad and gameplay buttons. The illustration also includes what appears to be a microphone button, which could hint at some sort of voice assistant compatibility as well. Yankodesign created a series of renders based off of the images submitted with the patent. But, these illustrations might not be the final product — the detailed descriptions point to what buttons could be included in such a device but aren’t included in the patent’s claims section.