$340 PS5 controller has worse battery life

A new official PlayStation 5 controller from Sony is a big upgrade from the regular DualSense, but it comes with one massive drawback

Sony’s got a new controller for the PlayStation 5 coming soon, and while it’s packed with features, it costs nearly three times as much as the original controller, and its battery won’t last as long.

The new controller is called the DualSense Edge, and will cost $340 in Australia. That’s a big step up in price from the regular DualSense’s $120 price tag, but it’s got plenty of fancy new features to justify it.

The biggest one for most people would be the programmable back paddles. These are lever-style buttons on the back of the controller that can be programmed to act like any of the controller’s face buttons, which lets serious players have more control over their gameplay without having to remove their thumbs from the analog sticks.

The analog sticks themselves have gotten a big upgrade too, with swappable caps and stick lengths that lets players customise them however they like. The controller comes with four different stick options, at two different heights, and it’s likely that more will be sold down the line, either by Sony themselves or third parties.

The original DualSense controller for the PS5 was lauded for its ergonomic design and advanced features. Picture: Sony

Those analog stick modules can actually be entirely replaced, too, if they get damaged or worn with time, and each replacement stick will cost $35. That’s a bit pricey just to change out an analog stick module, but it’s certainly a lot better than replacing the entire controller for $340.

There is one major drawback, however, and that’s the battery life. The original DualSense already has a fairly low battery life, at 10-15 hours — much shorter than the Switch and Xbox controllers’ 40 hours. The DualSense Edge, however, will have a “moderately shorter” battery life, according to The Verge. Here’s the full statement they received from Sony:

“The DualSense Edge wireless controller’s operating time is moderately shorter than the original DualSense wireless controller because we’ve included many more features within the same form factor and ergonomic design as the original DualSense controller. We wanted to strike a good balance between wireless operating time and delivering robust, high-performance features. Additionally, the longer USB braided cable is also great for competitive players who prefer playing with a wired connection to avoid wireless interference – this option preserves battery life.”

It’s unknown exactly how much shorter the battery life will be on the DualSense Edge, as Sony was reportedly unwilling to talk exact numbers, but given the original DualSense was already well below its competitors, it’s not what many players were hoping for.

The DualSense Edge isn’t the only controller competing in the high-end controller space, either. Another new PS5 controller costs almost $500, the Razer Wolverine V2 Pro, and has many of the same features of the DualSense Edge, though it’s lacking a few notable options.

In other video game controller news, Nintendo Switch controllers have a “design flaw”, according to a UK consumer rights group. The group says that it conducted research on controllers and found that a major design flaw made them susceptible to a problem called “drift”.

Written by Oliver Brandt on behalf of GLHF.