Sony has introduced its PlayStation 5 DualSense wireless controller. It’s an evolution on the classic PlayStation controller form we’ve seen over previous generations, with some new features.
The controller is slightly lighter, and Hideaki Nishino, Sony senior vice president, platform planning and management, says the company wanted to “maintain a strong battery life” for the rechargeable controller.
“Based on our discussions with developers,” Nishino said, “we concluded that the sense of touch within gameplay, much like audio, hasn’t been a big focus for many games.” Accordingly, the controller uses haptic feedback and has trigger tension. Overall, the angle of the hand triggers and the grip of the controller is different from previous ones. Nishino says the company tested the controller’s ergonomics with players of varying hand sizes, and wanted it to “feel smaller than it really looks.”
In other changes, the Share button has been replaced by the Create button. The Share functionality is still there, but is being added on to, with more in-depth details regarding the Create button coming later.
Like the PlayStation 5 itself, audio is also a point of emphasis with the DualSense controller. It features a built-in mic for game chat, although chat via a headset is still possible.
Nishino says this final form of the DualSense is currently being shipped out to developers, so perhaps we’ll start hearing about how they are going to implement its features soon.
The PlayStation 5 releases this holiday season.
[Source: Official PlayStation Blog]