Introducing DualSense, the New Wireless Game Controller for PlayStation 5

1,751 0
Introducing DualSense, the New Wireless Game Controller for PlayStation 5

See the first images of DualSense, which will bring the sense of touch to PS5 gameplay.

We’ve reached an exciting milestone with PlayStation 5, as we’re starting to ship our new controller in its final design to developers who are implementing its unique features into their games. But first, we wanted everyone in the PlayStation community to get a first look at the DualSense™ wireless controller, and hear our vision for how the new controller will captivate more of your senses as you interact with the virtual worlds in PS5 games. The features of DualSense, along with PS5’s Tempest 3D AudioTech, will deliver a new feeling of immersion to players.

When PS4 launched in 2013, the DualShock 4 wireless controller garnered a lot of positive feedback from gamers and developers for being the best PlayStation controller yet, and for introducing forward-looking features like the Share button. This brought us to the next question – how do we build upon that success?

After thoughtful consideration, we decided to keep much of what gamers love about DualShock 4 intact, while also adding new functionality and refining the design. Based on our discussions with developers, we concluded that the sense of touch within gameplay, much like audio, hasn’t been a big focus for many games. We had a great opportunity with PS5 to innovate by offering game creators the ability to explore how they can heighten that feeling of immersion through our new controller. This is why we adopted haptic feedback, which adds a variety of powerful sensations you’ll feel when you play, such as the slow grittiness of driving a car through mud. We also incorporated adaptive triggers into the L2 and R2 buttons of DualSense so you can truly feel the tension of your actions, like when drawing a bow to shoot an arrow.

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. In the end, we changed the angle of the hand triggers and also made some subtle updates to the grip. We also took thoughtful consideration into ways to maintain a strong battery life for DualSense’s rechargeable battery, and to lessen the weight of the controller as much as possible as new features were added.

For the buttons, you’ll notice there is no longer a “Share” button as we had with DualShock 4. Don’t worry – it’s not going away. In fact, we’ve built upon the success of our industry-first Share button to bring you a new “Create” button feature. With Create, we’re once again pioneering new ways for players to create epic gameplay content to share with the world, or just to enjoy for themselves. We’ll have more details on this feature as we get closer to launch.

DualSense also adds a built-in microphone array, which will enable players to easily chat with friends without a headset – ideal for jumping into a quick conversation. But of course, if you are planning to chat for a longer period, it’s good to have that headset handy.

Now, let’s talk about the colors. Traditionally our base controllers have a single color. As you can see, we went a different direction this time around, and decided on a two-toned design. Additionally, we changed the position of the light bar that will give it an extra pop. On DualShock 4, it sat on the top of the controller; now it sits at each side of the touch pad, giving it a slightly larger look and feel.

In all, we went through several concepts and hundreds of mockups over the last few years before we settled on this final design. DualSense has been tested by a wide range of gamers with a variety of hand sizes, in order for us to achieve the comfort level we wanted, with great ergonomics. Our goal with DualSense is to give gamers the feeling of being transported into the game world as soon as they open the box. We want gamers to feel like the controller is an extension of themselves when they’re playing – so much so that they forget that it’s even in their hands!

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

“DualSense” is a registered trademark or trademark of Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.

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1,751 Comments

  • Erm where is the OLED screen and where is the colours of the triangle, circle, cross and square. Sorry Phil Spencer but PS5 wins. Console will be awesome!!

  • i swear to godd this controller should not drift😭

  • I know I’m late commenting on the controller itself. I like it!. I just hope the touchpad gets more love from Sony natively and from developers as well.

    For instance; the touchpad could be used to increase or decrease backgrounds d music on the home UI or quickly are available DLC before launching a game. Zoom could be an accessibility feature moved to the touchpad. In-game.

    I liked Tomb Raider map Implementation. I liked killzone shadowfall’s additional gestures.

  • Absolutely LOVE it, i do have a suggestion, can we get an option to turn light bar off? i love to new placement and the interaction with it, but options to customize game play to our individual specifications would be great, sometime i just dont want to see that bright light or i want to conserve batter for gameplay. anyway, i can not wait to pre order!

  • i think you guys are misjudging the size, i dont think its anywhere near size or shape of an xbox controller, its just a new design, kind of tricks your eyes a little

  • Im sorry but i personally think the controller is kind of ugly, Its just too round and looks its starting to turn into the Xbox controllers.. :(

  • How wide will the ps5 controller be? Ps1 and 2 controllers were 6.18 inches ps3’s were 6.2 and the ps4 controllers are 6.34.

  • I’m impressed they FINALLY evolved the grips of the pad. If you compaired the Xbox and PlayStation simply by controller silhouette the garbage duke of the og Xbox is a far cry from the elite pad whereas Sony has been using the if it’s not broke don’t fix it but remember that first dual shock silhouette you can still use it for everything through the ps4 !
    I’m especially excited to see design evolution how long did we have hammer gun triggers yes it is the games that matter but ms started with a terrible controller and now has the elite pad Sony SHOULD have been evolving the dual shock the super grips of the dual shock SHOULD have been evolving into the grips of the dual sense and hammer gun triggers took a long time to get fixed!
    Perhaps now Sony is ready to get it’s own true elite pad with 4 extra buttons on the back of the pad …..I don’t want to wait for the PlayStation 6 or 7 before Sony steps up with a elite pad on PlayStation!
    As for the 2 tons it’s a good decision to make it stand out if you want to a store and the solid colors of series x controllers and then right next to it was a dual sense i imagine that should be more noticed from farther away and get more attention.

    Sony has to remember each new system need not scrap what came before gently evolve it while remembering what came before and improving on it the dual sense is a long time coming and respects the original while making long overdue improvements i hope to get a elite pad on PlayStation now that the form factor will support it! Very nice job Sony bring the elite pad on now!

  • Will the PS4 games work? Especially the download from the PlayStation zStore

  • playstation: releases a new controller that makes so things much more convenient for players, along with adding brand new features never released with any other controller . nearly a literal masterpiece.

    half of the people in these comments: i hAtE tHe CoLoUr ScHeMe, NoT bUyInG CoNtRoLlEr

  • i’m torn. The overall shape I am a fan of, it looks very comfy and a very nice improvement on the dual shock 4 which easily has been my favorite controller of all time. My main problem which seems to be a problem with lots of others is the loss of the classic aesthetic, losing the color in the buttons is a major problem, especially for me, also missing a logo with color is also a bummer considering how nice this looks. Another problem is all the damn LED’s, the dualshock 4 is amazing but the battery life is awful, the one that came with my ps4 in 2014 lasts maybe 2hrs which isn’t great, and at the looks of this it doesn’t seem that you have taken that into consideration. My last thing, the touchpad…just why? But those are my 3 huge problems, I am not paying 400 dollars on a playstation that comes in white, i’ve had a black playstation since the big ol box ps2. looks amazing besides my gripes.

  • I really like the look of the new DualSense, hope it feels as good in the hands as it looks and the DualShock 4!! I do wonder about the back button add-on that was released for the DS4 and was touted as something that would possibly form part of the DualSense but doesn’t appear to be?

    Following this, I’d really love for the console reveal to happen in the coming weeks, we’ve waited so long and now it’s just getting to the point where I think the majority of the community feel the same. There are rumors of this but that’s all they are and until we see the console and obviously games, people are going to continue to speculate about how capable the PS5 really is.

    Personally, I couldn’t care less about how it compares to the competition and which has more Teraflops, it is about the games first and foremost and that’s where SONY have a great track record. Price will also be a factor :)

  • I really like this design! I’m a little curious how it’s going to work with Next Gen VR without a light bar. But overall I think it’s a very solid look!

  • Love the controller, the feature set is impressive and I’m excited about the Haptic feedback.
    It’s going to be interesting to see the parallels people start to draw inbetween the controller and the console.
    If Sony are smart they could drum up some publicity by doing a competition for users, where they send in a drawing of how the PS5 may look like and Don’t gives the closest person a PS5 console.
    Just a thought but I think it would be great for publicity.

  • Amazing controller but I think it would be more interesting to see that ps button in the same color as the controller like black will have black, white will have white and so on.. just a thought…

  • Wooooooooooooow

  • It was similar to the Xbox controller….

  • will they make the black version?

  • I love the color scheme but please change the shape back to the same as the previous four PlayStations because those controllers had the perfect shape and size and were unique this shape just feels like the latest xbox controller and just makes it feel less special and less unique I love your consoles and controllers always have the old shape wasn’t broken so please don’t change the shape because each console should have something unique that no one else has and the controller shape was one of the things that has made PlayStation unique since the very beginning I hope this doesn’t come across as rude I really do I just don’t want to see my and a lot of others favorite console get a bunch of hate because of the shape of a controller whatever happens at the PS5 launch I’ll be there to support you and buy the the new console

  • Loving the new controller, can’t wait for the launch.

  • Sony, you need to put the color back on the Triangle, Square, Circle, and X buttons on the new PS5 Controller. All of your games show the buttons in color to show which ones should be pushed.

  • For the longest time I thought this was a joke, like the old Xbox 720 designs.
    I’m personally not a fan of how it looks, but hey, who looks at their controller while playing games anyway? lol
    I can’t wait to actually try/hold one of these!

  • I’m just another commenter and I know this message might go unheard but this new controller is the exact opposite of what made the dual shock and every other controller by Sony special. They had a sleek design with the classic colored buttons, and starting with the dual shock we showed true advancements above the competition while still maintaining the same play station feel. This was a large accomplishment and all you need to do is not fold to the xbox like design and work on some of the minor flaws of the current controller. Some of those being the battery which gradually stops holding a charge, and the random disconnects mid match. Anything else is a cherry on top.
    Thank you for your time,
    -Swuarto

  • **** beautiful 😍😌👍👍🇧🇷

  • I can’t find any specific area on this site to post my comment. Me and, many others are experiencing many console errors and glitches. Party chats will not load, and the controller scrolls up by itself. Also, ever since this issue started happening again within the past few weeks my console seems to be making very low buzzing noises I don’t think I ever noticed these. There is nothing wrong with my internet or controller at all. Check out keywords “psn downdetector” on Google and see for yourself the many that are suffering. This has been going on since PS4 release. What is this world coming to?

  • This looks so Hi-tech! Cant wait to get my hands on one!!

  • So is Sony ever going to get on board with some form of pro-version controller or will we need to go after-market product like scuff or astro. I thought with the intro to the back-button for PS4 we might see something like that. But a bit short sighted in manufacturing that no legitimate retailers have them in stock but the scalpers have them on e-bay and other such sites for a 300% markup.

  • ephraim10_dollar

    WOW! CAN’T WAIT FOR IT EVEN THOUGH I DON’T HAVE ENOUGH MONEY I’LL DIG IN THE DIRT IF I HAVE TO

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