Hyperkin unveiled a new Xbox controller called The Competitor at CES 2025. The twist with this officially licensed third-party peripheral is that The Competitor’s stick placement and general design looks a lot like that of the DualSense, the PlayStation 5’s controller.
The Xbox Wireless Controller typically features offset control sticks, a hybrid D-pad, and face buttons where the letters on each button are colored. Hyperkin’s new controller radically changes the stick placement and D-pad to match what the DualSense offers. Both control sticks are now located next to each other on the bottom part of the controller, while the D-pad has moved to the upper-left side of the controller, and each direction is an individual button.
On top of that, the controller is mostly white and its face buttons are clear, just like the DualSense. Hyperkin even added a mute button, which the DualSense has, but the Xbox Wireless Controller doesn’t.
Although Hyperkin does emulate the DualSense’s look and feel faithfully, it’s not totally the same. The Competitor does not feature a touchpad, adaptive triggers, or haptic feedback like the DualSense, but makes itself distinct in other ways. It’s a wired controller, and IGN reports that its control sticks are Hall Effect rather than Analog. Hall Effect sticks are known for being more durable than standard analog sticks and less prone to the drift problems plaguing this generation of controllers. It also features two programmable buttons on the back of the controller.
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Hyperkin is clearly trying to appeal to people who enjoy the look and feel of the DualSense, but prefer playing their games on Xbox. You’ll have to go hands-on with it at CES 2025 or wait for it to be released to see if The Competitor lives up to that promise. Pricing and release date for the Hyperkin are not yet known.
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