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Dualsense Controller Price Increased on Major Retailers ($5 to $10)

Trilobit

Gold Member
The first time I used my Dualsense I was sure it would break within the year with those adaptive triggers and whatnots, but here it's still going strong several years and with many hundred hours of gameplay later. But for that hike in price I'd expect Sony to put better batteries in them.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Amazon was the last big retailer left and they've increased the base price of the controllers too now.
 

Ebrietas

Member
This is the only generation in my memory where both console and accessory prices have seen worldwide increase xyz number of years into it.

Dualshock 4, for example, did not have any notable increases and only saw it trending downwards as the generation went on, despite the inflation in those 10 years.


You should look up how much the broad money supply increased after Covid
 
The crazy part is that sony doesn't even release good looking controllers when compared to Microsoft. Now, i know Microsoft releases more controllers than games but, the designs are generally appealing. Sony on the other hand has bland ass single color controllers and they keep jacking up the price while putting in no effort.
 
Serious question: what is the cheaper alternative to the DualSense? I can't find any third party controllers that are cheaper (in fact, most are $200 or more). 8BitDo was mentioned earlier in this topic, but it doesn't seem like it's compatible with PS5. Am I missing something here?
 

Edgelord79

Gold Member
Can anyone give me recommendations on a decent ps5 compatible third party controller that uses hall-effect joysticks? I don’t care about adaptive triggers or haptics in my games either.

I’m on my third controller and don’t want spend this anymore. DS Edge is not an option because I refuse to pay that money for the same quality of joysticks.

I use the 8bitdo ultimate controller on PC and its joysticks are fantastic. Same with the Steam Deck.
 

sainraja

Member
If they are increasing price simply because of the perceived position of Xbox right now, then increasing the price now.... so quickly seems short-sighted and greedy. However, and it is easy to jump to this conclusion quickly, are there not other factors involved as to why prices are increasing? When the A&B acquisition was in the works, didn't Sony increase PS Plus pricing with the new tiers and that was during a time when Sony's position looked weaker due to the pending purchase. So there definitely seems to be more to this... hell places I use to eat at around me have either decreased the portions you get for the same price or increased the price. So, I dunno, prices seem to be going up all around us.
 
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Skifi28

Member
Can anyone give me recommendations on a decent ps5 compatible third party controller that uses hall-effect joysticks? I don’t care about adaptive triggers or haptics in my games either.

I’m on my third controller and don’t want spend this anymore. DS Edge is not an option because I refuse to pay that money for the same quality of joysticks.

I use the 8bitdo ultimate controller on PC and its joysticks are fantastic. Same with the Steam Deck.

The only controller I'm aware of is the nacon revolution 5 pro. It's not the highest quality or most comfortable controller I've used in my life and it's quite expensive, but it works well enough and has hall effect sticks and 4 back buttons.
 

th4tguy

Member
McDonald’s tried this and look how it worked out for them. Give it time. Let sales drop.
Will open a door for other competitors to come in and challenge Sony.
My eyes are on Nintendo
 

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
McDonald’s tried this and look how it worked out for them. Give it time. Let sales drop.
Will open a door for other competitors to come in and challenge Sony.
My eyes are on Nintendo
Challenge Sony's proprietary controllers? Nintendo releasing Playstation controllers? What are you talking about?
 
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SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
Can you elaborate on why you include Nintendo there? Is it because they haven't released the Switch 2 yet?
Nintendo left the console market with the switch. They don’t have any of the big aaa games people like to play. So if you are a casual who likes to play gta or cod Nintendo isn’t an option. If you are a hardcore player wants to play elden ring, cyberpunk, re4, baldurs gate or 99% of the other aaa games then Nintendo isn’t an option.
 

Bojji

Gold Member
Nintendo 100% competes in the same realm of entertainment, which includes games, streaming services, movies, etc.

Yes but also if you divide console gaming market more you have:

- hardcore players & COD/FC casuals. Sony dominates this one

- Nintendo fans and "standard" casual players. Nintendo owns it.

They are not exactly competing with themselves. It looks like this:

LUDxAXM.jpeg
 
Nintendo left the console market with the switch. They don’t have any of the big aaa games people like to play. So if you are a casual who likes to play gta or cod Nintendo isn’t an option. If you are a hardcore player wants to play elden ring, cyberpunk, re4, baldurs gate or 99% of the other aaa games then Nintendo isn’t an option.
True but I would still mostly blame MS if we're assigning it. Nintendo saw the futility in the arms race 20 year ago and decided to carved their own path. They're also the only one of the big three right now with a steady release cadence, have avoided major blunders like a Concord situation or having to lay off thousands of employees for reasons. What they're doing right now is the most sustainable, even if they're a gen or two behind in tech leading to not having certain zeitgeist games as you mentioned. They've positioned themselves as either your main console ( if you're into their IP, Indies and AA stuff), or worst case a secondary console.

MS has a machine in the Series X that on paper should be more than capable of competing with Sony in the high end console space, but they've committed own goal after own goal for like the past decade and more or less killed their console business. It's like they're trying to dip their toes in more than one pool of water instead of committing hard, almost a 'throw shit at the wall and see what sticks' and led to erosion of consumer confidence.

It may end up coming down to Sony vs Nintendo, with MS going full third party. It will be interesting to see that face off given the contrast in strategy for your time and money. In general, it's possible we've gotten to the point where the industry can no longer sustain 3 main players all trying to sell consoles. The peak of that was between 6th and 7th gen( and that's not even counting the handhelds with their own respective ecosystem).
 
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True but I would still mostly blame MS if we're assigning it. Nintendo saw the futility in the arms race 20 year ago and decided to carved their own path. They're also the only one of the big three right now with a steady release cadence, have avoided major blunders like a Concord situation or having to lay off thousands of employees for reasons. What they're doing right now is the most sustainable, even if they're a gen or two behind in tech leading to not having certain zeitgeist games as you mentioned. They've positioned themselves as either your main console ( if you're into their IP, Indies and AA stuff), or worst case a secondary console.

MS has a machine in the Series X that on paper should be more than capable of competing with Sony in the high end console space, but they've committed own goal after own goal for like the past decade and more or less killed their console business. It's like they're trying to dip their toes in more than one pool of water instead of committing hard, almost a 'throw shit at the wall and see what sticks' and led to erosion of consumer confidence.

It may end up coming down to Sony vs Nintendo, with MS going full third party. It will be interesting to see that face off given the contrast in strategy for your time and money. In general, it's possible we've gotten to the point where the industry can no longer sustain 3 main players all trying to sell consoles. The peak of that was between 6th and 7th gen( and that's not even counting the handhelds with their own respective ecosystem).

The industry can definitely sustain 3 giants with their own exclusives. The trick is to stop throwing money on snazzy visuals and make fun video games. Art style and gameplay design/interaction is where it's at. People are way too fucking obsessed with technical details these days, and not nearly obsessed enough with are they actually having fun?

In terms of controller design, we have stagnated - the fact that some basic features like paddles and adjustable triggers were not included as basic upgrades this generation shows there is no intent to make any further progress. They would prefer to slow drip things nobody asked for and hardly any game uses (like adaptive triggers) rather than provide actual new features your average person would utilize. They want you to buy separate controllers for a huge markup to get anything new.
 
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The industry can definitely sustain 3 giants with their own exclusives. The trick is to stop throwing money on snazzy visuals and make fun video games. Art style and gameplay design/interaction is where it's at. People are way too fucking obsessed with technical details these days, and not nearly obsessed enough with are they actually having fun?
I agree but that's also gonna require gamers to temper expectations. The graphical edge keeps getting pushed because the consumer has the expectation that every 5-7 years new consoles come out, and the consoles have to justify their perpetual existence with visual leaps. As I said before, Nintendo realized that was going to crash and burn eventually and....here we are.

We are very obviously at the point of diminishing returns, not because the current tech has reached its limit, moreso that getting closer to the ceiling requires more and more investment in time, money and manpower. Those are the biggest limiting issues now, not what's under the hood.

It's probably healthier for the long term sustainability of the industry if games were scaled back somewhat, or at least we accept the fidelity is good enough for now. Let's master steady framerates and try to find new hooks and advancement in gameplay and design. It generally feels like we've been playing the same games for 3 gens now, just with shinier graphics.
 
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Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
How much will controllers cost when ps5 pro sells poorly? $100?
If I was a PS gamer, I would just try and convince everyone to buy Fairgame$. At least that way you're getting a game.

PS Pro Stand $30, PS controllers +$10. Concord's $40 price tag is now erased and you don't even get the game. Not even worth it to skip Sony games because you pay anyway.
 
I agree but that's also gonna require gamers to temper expectations. The graphical edge keeps getting pushed because the consumer has the expectation that every 5-7 years new consoles come out, and the consoles have to justify their perpetual existence with visual leaps. As I said before, Nintendo realized that was going to crash and burn eventually and....here we are.

We are very obviously at the point of diminishing returns, not because the current tech has reached its limit, moreso that getting closer to the ceiling requires more and more investment in time, money and manpower. Those are the biggest limiting issues now, not what's under the hood

Never thought about it. Those Nintendo guys... They fucking knew something.

While I think that the Wii success was a bit of a lucky hit, and while the Wii U failed miserable. They never gave up on the "cheap hardware, modest graphics, BUT HIGH ART AND TOP LEVEL DESIGN".

Though now that I think about it, Nintendo always waited, they were always observing quietly what the competition did and released their hardware at least one year after.

Snes release was about 1 year and a half after the Megadrive japanese release.
Same happened with N64 vs Ps1 and Saturn.
Same with the Gamecube, IIRC... released in late 2001, while the Ps2 was about to hit its second year (not to mention Dreamcast, which was released in November 1998...)
 
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ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
McDonald’s tried this and look how it worked out for them. Give it time. Let sales drop.
Will open a door for other competitors to come in and challenge Sony.
My eyes are on Nintendo
They are entirely different though. McDonald customers have no brand loyalty and 0 problem switching to other brand
 

LMJ

Member
Lol Sony allegedly just shat 400 million down the drain with Concord (still seems high to me) did you REALLY think the customer ...sorry consumer wasn't going to foot a big part of that bill, like I said hopefully this was a wakeup call and as the economy eventually recovers we see prices drop...

been a loyal Playstation fan since the PS1 (loyal N and Xb fan too) but if this trend continues then the next PS will be ignored

Animated GIF
 
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poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
If I was a PS gamer, I would just try and convince everyone to buy Fairgame$. At least that way you're getting a game.

PS Pro Stand $30, PS controllers +$10. Concord's $40 price tag is now erased and you don't even get the game. Not even worth it to skip Sony games because you pay anyway.
These price increases were going to happen no matter what Concord did. They are increasing prices because they think the market can bear it.
 

StereoVsn

Member
The only controller I'm aware of is the nacon revolution 5 pro. It's not the highest quality or most comfortable controller I've used in my life and it's quite expensive, but it works well enough and has hall effect sticks and 4 back buttons.
There are couple other high end ones for $200+. There are no 3rd party wireless controllers for under $100 as far as I am aware.

Cheapest way to get them is wait till Amazon Prime or Black Friday sale when they also take off extra 20% off Amazon Warehouse items. You can usually get one in “Like New” condition for around $45-50.
 

Nydius

Member
Nasty cunts. Arogant Sony has returned. Good job Microsoft and Nintendo for completely dropping the ball.
Give me a fucking break. Xbox hasn’t been a competitor to PlayStation since 2014. Trying to blame Microsoft for this is blatant console warring nonsense.

As for Nintendo, I guess you’ve forgotten they have been selling joy-con pairs for $80+ and pro controllers for $75+. They’re the most feature comparable to the DualSense so, sure, Nintendo can bear some blame… for inflating the prices of their controllers too.
 

ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
These price increases were going to happen no matter what Concord did. They are increasing prices because they think the market can bear it.

Yah it has been their plan for quite a while, probably years. There is a reason why they crack down on unlicensed cheap 3rd party controllers, and only collaborate with companies who make controllers that cost more than their own DualSense.

Meanwhile you can easily buy licensed 3rd party $30 alternatives for Switch Pro controller or Xbox controller from cheaper yet great brands like 8Bitdo or PowerA.
 
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th4tguy

Member
Challenge Sony's proprietary controllers? Nintendo releasing Playstation controllers? What are you talking about?
Competing with a more competitively priced system and quality/ regularly released library that competes for market share. Also Nintendo partners with officially licensed third parties to release cheap controllers for about $30.

I wasn’t just referring to the price increase of controller. Sony has raised the price of the system multiple times this gen and now with the price pro, it’s clear they have lost touch with who their market base is.
 
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ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
They are not losing touch. Quite the opposite, they will be dumb here if they are not increasing the price to improve their profit.
 

th4tguy

Member
They are not losing touch. Quite the opposite, they will be dumb here if they are not increasing the price to improve their profit.
There is a point where increasing prices too high reduces total sales and ends up with less profit. Their profit margins on hardware is slim to none. They need to be doing everything they can to drive software sales, where margins are much more in their favor. How to you do that? Sell as much hardware as you can at cost or even at a loss, if the market is competitive enough.
Our pricing a chunk of your user base destroys future growth and can flatline or even drop cash flow.
 

Cakeboxer

Member
There is a point where increasing prices too high reduces total sales.
Apple is doing this since years and they haven't reached the point yet although they just have brand loyality. Sony has brand loyality and no serious competition at all. If Microsoft won't make new hardware next gen, expect 99 Dollar controllers and much more and people will buy it.
 
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