APlayerState::GetOwningController

function Engine Since 4.0

#include "GameFramework/PlayerState.h"

Access: public Specifiers: ENGINE_API

Description

Returns the AI or player controller that created this player state. Unlike GetPlayerController, this also returns a valid pointer for bot-controlled pawns.

Caveats & Gotchas

• Returns null on remote clients for all players — the controller relationship only exists on the server and on the local machine for the owning player.
• The return type is AController, not APlayerController. Always cast before calling player-controller-specific functions. Use GetPlayerController() if you only care about human players.

Signature

ENGINE_API class AController* GetOwningController() const;

Return Type

AController*

Example

Handle both human and AI controllers C++

void AMyActor::NotifyOwner(APlayerState* PS)
{
    if (AController* C = PS->GetOwningController())
    {
        if (APlayerController* PC = Cast<APlayerController>(C))
        {
            PC->ClientShowNotification();
        }
        else if (auto* AIC = Cast<AAIController>(C))
        {
            // AI controller path
            AIC->ReceiveNotification();
        }
    }
}

Version History

Introduced in: 4.0

Version	Status	Notes
5.6	stable	—

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