During Gamescom Opening Night Live, Sony revealed a brand new accessory for PS5 users: the DualSense Edge. But what is it? Here’s everything we know.
The Xbox community has had an official Pro controller for a number of years. The £150 Xbox Elite Controller comes with a more premium body, changeable thumbsticks, programmable paddles and more. And it seems that Sony’s upcoming DualSense Edge is going to be the PS5’s answer.
We can tell from the first images of the DualSense Edge that this is very familiar to a regular DualSense. But there are some interesting new features, like switches and new buttons. The colour scheme is also slightly different, with a black touchpad to contrast the white controller body.
Let’s first take a look at the Edge’s unique features.
DualSense Edge: Features
Here are the features found on the DualSense Edge that are brand new:
- Adjust stick sensitivity and dead zones: You can fine-tune how far you need to move your thumbsticks before the system picks it up. Extra sensitivity is great for online games where fast reactions make all the difference
- Remappable buttons: Not only can you remap specific button inputs directly on the controller itself, but you can also deactivate certain buttons that you don’t need to use.
- Save multiple control profiles: Whether multiple people use the same controller, or you want different profiles for different games, you can save different configurations to the controller. You can then switch between them easily on the fly.
- Changeable thumbstick caps: The DualSense Edge comes with three different types of thumbstick toppers: standard, high dome and low dome. You can change these to suit your preference. You can even have different caps on each thumbstick if you want.
- Back buttons: There’s a whole new set of programmable buttons on the back of the DualSense Edge. These can also be switched out between half-dome and lever, and can be configured to any other button input. Maybe it’s easier to push a button on the back than it is to reach for triangle? These are for you.
- A braided USB-C cable: This isn’t exactly a function of the controller, but it’s another thing that sets it apart from a standard DualSense. It’s bundled with a premium braided cable – and it locks into the controller when in use to make it harder to accidentally pull it out.
DualSense vs DualSense Edge: What’s Better?
While we can’t give you our personal opinion on the DualSense Edge until we’ve had it in our hands, you might be wondering if it’s going to be better than a standard DualSense and worth the upgrade.
We’ve used lots of different premium controllers over the years, from Xbox’s Elite Controller to Nacon’s PS4 ‘Pro’ Controller. All of them boast similar features to the DualSense Edge, such as changeable sticks and mappable back buttons.
Related: The 7 Best (and 3 Worst) Game Console Controllers Ever Made
The truth is, these features are great – but not everyone is going to get the most out of them. Our favourite thing about Xbox’s Elite Controller is its build quality: it feels much more solid than a standard Xbox controller. But the PS5’s DualSense already feels pretty wonderful in our hands, and so quality isn’t an issue.
If you are a serious, competitive gamer then you’ll certainly benefit from extra features like stick sensitivity adjustment. Likewise, some people will benefit from programmable back buttons from an accessibility point of view.
But if you’ve never felt the need for extra buttons, and you’re perfectly happy with your DualSense thumbsticks as they are, you probably don’t need to worry about upgrading.
When will DualSense Edge be available, and how much will it cost?
Sony has yet to reveal a release date and a price for the DualSense Edge. In its announcement blog post, Sony says more information is due “in the months ahead”. As such, we don’t think we’ll see the DualSense Edge until early 2023. With that being the window for the PSVR 2 launch, it’s entirely possible the two new pieces of hardware will launch alongside each other.
As for how much the DualSense Edge will cost? Sony has given no indication of price. We know it’s going to be more expensive than a standard DualSense. Other ‘Pro’ controllers typically have a price tag between £100-£150 ($100-$150), and we’re guessing the Edge will sit in the upper part of that range. Again, that’s just an estimation, and we won’t know for sure until Sony announcements more information in a few months.
You can read more about the DualSense Edge on PlayStation’s Blog by clicking here. We’ll share more information as soon as it’s available.
