It’s been awhile since Microsoft revealed their new controller for the Xbox Series X. Today was Sony’s big controller reveal, and it’s quite a drastic change.
It’s been titled the DualSense, as it will “captivate more of your senses” while you play. The features of the DualSense, along with the PS5’s Tempest 3D AudioTech, will “deliver a new feeling of immersion to players.”

Sony decided to keep much of what gamers loved about the DualShock 4, but also added new functionality and a refined design. Developers discussed that the sense of touch within gameplay hasn’t been a “big focus” for many games. Therefore, Sony had a great opportunity with the PS5 to innovate by “offering game creators the ability to eloper how they can heighten that feeling of immersion” through their new controller.
The newly added haptic feedback brings a variety of powerful sensations you’ll feel when you play, like the “slow grittiness of driving a car through mud.” They also incorporated adaptive triggers into the L2 an R2 buttons so you can “truly feel the tension of your actions,” like when drawing the string of a bow to shoot an arrow.
Sony spoke about the challenge this created and how the design was adapted to account the new features:
This provided us with an exciting challenge to design a new controller that builds off of the current generation, while taking into account the new features we were adding. For example, with adaptive triggers, we had to consider how the components would fit into the hardware, without giving it a bulky feeling. Our design team worked closely with our hardware engineers to place the triggers and actuators. The designers were then able to draw the lines of how the exterior of the controller would look and feel, with a challenge of making the controller feel smaller than it really looks.
Hideaki Nishino (Senior VP, Platform Planning and Management
The controllers angle of the hand triggers has changed and there were some subtle updates to the grip. They also took consideration into ways to maintain a strong battery life for the DualSense, and to lessen the weight of the controller “as much as possible” as new features were added.
There’s no longer a “Share” button, it’s been replaced by a new “Create” button. With Create, Sony is giving players new ways to create epic gameplay content. They’ll be sharing more details on this feature closer to launch.
DualSense also has a built-in microphone array, enabling players to easily chat with friends without a headset. It was emphasized that this was for quick conversation, and if players wanted to chat for longer periods, it would be “good to have a headset handy.”
As you noticed, this generation of controller has a completely different base color scheme. Instead of a single color, the DualSense is two-toned. There was no mention of other colors. Sony also changed to position of the light bar, placing it on each side of the touchpad, instead of on top of the controller like the DualShock 4.
Sony also mentioned they tested several concepts and hundreds of mockups over the last few years, before they settled on this design. It was also tested by a wide range of gamers with a variety of hand sizes.
Sony’s Jim Ryan, the President and CEO, gave a statement regarding the reveal of their new controller and sharing more information in the coming months:
We are thrilled about sharing the final look of the DualSense controller with our fans, and we can’t wait for everyone to get their hands on it! I’d like to close with a message from SIE President & CEO Jim Ryan to the community:
“DualSense marks a radical departure from our previous controller offerings and captures just how strongly we feel about making a generational leap with PS5. The new controller, along with the many innovative features in PS5, will be transformative for games – continuing our mission at PlayStation to push the boundaries of play, now and in the future. To the PlayStation community, I truly want to thank you for sharing this exciting journey with us as we head toward PS5’s launch in Holiday 2020. We look forward to sharing more information about PS5, including the console design, in the coming months.”
Jim Ryan, President & CEo, Sony Interactive Entertainment
Source: PlayStation