Major congratulations to all of those who read all this.
Actually, the very end is where I think you lost me. lol
My reading of the legalese you quoted is that Sony has the right to use Immersion's tech, hereafter referred to as Rumble, in PlayStations and PlayStation controllers, even if those controllers are made by third parties. So if Mad Catz wants to make a controller for the PS3 with Rumble, Sony are within their rights to allow Mad Catz to coat-tail on Sony's Rumble license. This is because the controller in question
only works with the PS3. Sony are prohibited from extending their license to third parties* making controllers that
also work with non-PlayStation devices. For example, the Logitech wheels, which also work on PC.
So Sony can sub-license "PlayStation controllers" all day long, but their license doesn't extend to authorization of multi-platform devices. For that, you would need to negotiate with Immersion directly. So it seems likely that Logitech negotiated directly with Immersion to license the wheels for use on two platforms; PS3 and PC. Not PlayStation and PC, or Consoles and PC, but specifically the PS3 and PC. Now, if they want their hardware to work with an
additional platform, such as the PS4, Logitech would need to go back to Immersion and negotiate a new contract to cover the new platform.
Lastly, the overall impression I'm getting is that Immersion considers every iteration of a console to be a unique platform requiring fresh negotiations, but the "PC platform" just covers the ever-changing definition of PC through the end of time. So basically, Logitech already have a deal with Immersion to support PC forever, and PS3 for as long as people buy them, but no other platforms, including other PlayStations.
So now Logitech are in the position of needing to re-pay Immersion for supporting a new platform on hardware they've already sold; releasing a G28 whose only differentiating feature is "works on PS4;" or "getting out of the console business" and coasting along on the PC license they've already negotiated, since unlike their console license, it doesn't have an effective expiration date.
Speaking of expiration dates, how much longer do we need to deal with this stupid patent anyway?? ><
Incidentally, my interpretation of Sony's Option as described in the MS filing was not that it was discussing re-licensing old controllers for new platforms, but rather if Sony decided to port Uncharted 2 over to PC, then they'd have the Option of including Rumble in the port, and would then pay $10M to do the port, plus 25¢ per copy sold.
*Edit: Come to think of it, it says Sony can't make multi-platform controllers either. That would explain why the DualShocks don't get official support on PC; they'd either need to leave out Rumble on PC, or basically double the licensing fee they pay to Immersion for every single controller they sell, no matter who buys it, PC or PS.
Me?
In that I'd be happy to pay Immersion a £10 "license" to enable use of my G27 on PS4.
I actually had the same thought. Similar to when Apple had to charge us like $10 to be allowed to update the Wi-Fi firmware or whatever that was.
The main hurdle I can see would be that Immersion would be within their rights to say, "No, you need to pay us $10 for every piece of hardware you've ever sold, whether they download the PS4 driver or not," and that sounds like something Immersion would say.
Also, there are also the issues of whether Sony even has the infrastructure in place to deliver drivers to some users and not others; whether this re-licensing will indeed be done per-user, or per-console, or per-wheel…