DualSense Controller - Everything You Need To Know

[Mavrick]

DualSense™ Wireless Controller

Discover a deeper gaming experience with the innovative new PS5™ controller.



Heighten Your Senses™
The DualSense wireless controller for PS5 offers immersive haptic feedback, dynamic adaptive triggers and a built-in microphone, all integrated into an iconic design.

DualSense Wireless Controller Video | PS5 - YouTube

Bring gaming worlds to life



Haptic feedback
Feel physically responsive feedback to your in-game actions with dual actuators which replace traditional rumble motors. In your hands, these dynamic vibrations can simulate the feeling of everything from environments to the recoil of different weapons.

Adaptive triggers
Experience varying levels of force and tension as you interact with your in-game gear and environments. From pulling back an increasingly tight bowstring to hitting the brakes on a speeding car, feel physically connected to your on-screen actions.

Find your voice, share your passion


Built-in microphone and headset jack

Chat with friends online using the built-in microphone – or by connecting a headset to the 3.5mm jack. Easily switch off voice capture at a moment’s notice with the dedicated mute button.


Create button

Capture and broadcast your most epic gaming moments with the create button. Building on the success of the pioneering SHARE button, “create” offers players more ways to produce gaming content and broadcast their adventures live to the world.

Familiar features
The DualSense wireless controller retains many DUALSHOCK®4 features, returning for a new generation of play.


Built-in battery

Charge and play, now via USB Type-C®


Integrated speaker

Select games take on an extra dimension with higher-fidelity sound effects bursting from the controller.


Motion sensor

Bring intuitive motion control to supported games with the built-in accelerometer and gyroscope.


Click. Charge. Play.

Stay in the game and be ready to face your friends with the DualSense charging station.

Dock up to two DualSense wireless controllers5 quickly and easily with the charging station’s click-in design. Your controllers charge as quickly as when connected to your PS5 console – so you can free up USB ports without sacrificing performance.

Introducing DualSense, the New Wireless Game Controller for PlayStation 5

DualSense Wireless Controller Video | PS5 - YouTube

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

[JayTL]

Not really liking the look. Most of that is because of the color. I hope the new features don't kill the controller battery.

Also, is it plastic or rubber?

[Al_The_Strange]

I think it looks sexy.

[Omegaice]

Originally Posted by JayTL

Not really liking the look. Most of that is because of the color. I hope the new features don't kill the controller battery.

Also, is it plastic or rubber?

Plastic body with rubber thumb sticks. I'm sure some if not all battery draining features can be mitigated in the System UI. There will be different color combos just probably not a launch.

[Musashi]

Needs to have pressure sensitive buttons so they can offer true backwards compatibility options for PS2-3 on PS5.

[gundamcero]

Sexy as hell. Love it.

[NARMAK]

Didn't think this would get it's own thread but hey ho.

I think any complaints about charging hopefully are addressed with the USB-C port and how quickly that charges. Personally i want news on a back button attachment for this. Hopefully for launch and at the same price as the Back Button.

[Steelmaker]

I feel like I'm staring at the top half of a panda bears head.

[NARMAK]

I think it looks slick and very iRobot or similar and tbh, the way they made it sound, it's as if you will get different colours from the off which would be nice. Personally think if the PS5 somehow had a full feature to change the console "shell" it would be pretty sweet. Like you could change the faceplate on a PS4 but i mean the whole shebang almost woulf be nice.

I quite fancy a Red and Black PS5

[Steelmaker]

Originally Posted by NARMAK

I think it looks slick and very iRobot or similar and tbh, the way they made it sound, it's as if you will get different colours from the off which would be nice. Personally think if the PS5 somehow had a full feature to change the console "shell" it would be pretty sweet. Like you could change the faceplate on a PS4 but i mean the whole shebang almost woulf be nice.

I quite fancy a Red and Black PS5

Actually I think it kind of looks like one of Sony's astrobots! I wonder if the console itself will have that same two tone design?

[Mavrick]

Fanmade, the colour combos will be endless

[Steelmaker]

Originally Posted by Mavrick

Fanmade, the colour combos will be endless

Ooooh I like the black.

[NARMAK]

Originally Posted by Mavrick

Fanmade, the colour combos will be endless

The renders look a little Crayola but the Red and Black combo confirms what i was thinking would work quite well. Especially if it is the Magma Red we have on DS4 atm.

[NARMAK]

Originally Posted by Diesel

I’d rather a black and blue design or almost anything besides white since white gets dirty easy, but not really impactful since it is in my hand and I’m not looking at it 99% of the time. As long as it feels nice to hold.

It looks like the material they've gone with should clean very easily tbh. Like a slick plastic but i think the main concern for me is whether they're actually going to let us turn off the touchpad light completely since barely any games used it.

I'm sure there will be a colour or two coming out at launch or soon after for us to buy.

Originally Posted by Steelmaker

Actually I think it kind of looks like one of Sony's astrobots! I wonder if the console itself will have that same two tone design?

I think a white PS5 would look quite striking and also fresh i guess but time will tell. Overall i like the design but will need a hands on to really see how i feel about it. The DS4 is actually pretty great for me. Going back to a DS3 felt a little weird.

[Mavrick]

I quite like this one.



The grip on the sticks looks a little bit better, but I will most likely be sticking grips on day one after the shocking quality of the DS4 sticks rubber.

[Mavrick]

[Derb]

Originally Posted by Mavrick

The grip on the sticks looks a little bit better, but I will most likely be sticking grips on day one after the shocking quality of the DS4 sticks rubber.

I just compared this to the DS4 Controller brand new.

It does look better. Edges are more round shaped. Textured edges is entirely new. There is 0 texture on DS4’s edges by comparison. Hopefully add-ons won’t be needed.

[Diesel]

I’d rather a black and blue design or almost anything besides white since white gets dirty easy, but not really impactful since it is in my hand and I’m not looking at it 99% of the time. As long as it feels nice to hold.

[SteelbookCat]

has a endgame quantum realm uniform look to the controller

[Talal86]

Dualshock 4 looks a lot better, this doesn’t even look official