Hyperkin announces a strange new PS5-style Xbox controller

Marginal company Hyperkin has unveiled The Competitor, an Xbox controller modeled after the PS5 This is clearly inspired by Sony’s DualSense. If, for some reason, you want to play a game The best Xbox games With a controller with a poorly designed analog stick, well, you soon will.

Hyperkin announces a competing Xbox controller

• The Competitor is a wired controller that is compatible with Xbox and PC
• The Hall Effect joystick features a symmetrical design and two programmable buttons
• The price and release date have not been announced

Announced at CES 2025 (thanks, IGN), Hyperkin’s The Competitor is an Xbox console for those who want to enjoy a PS5-style experience on their Microsoft hardware. As you can see, the Rival looks very similar to the PlayStation 5’s DualSense controller, with its black and white color scheme and symmetrical layout of its joystick. The Competitor is a wired controller that is compatible with both Xbox and PC consoles. In terms of features, it has some nifty Hall Effect joysticks, which make it more resistant to stick drift and should give the controller longer life, Hall Effect triggers, and two resettable buttons on the back of the pad. There’s also a handy microphone mute button in the center of the controller.

Hyperkin showed off two colorways of The Competitor: a white version that mimics the PS5’s DualSense and an all-black version. A release date and price for the console have not been announced.

In my opinion, Xbox has mastered controller design and ergonomics. Xbox controllers are the most comfortable consoles out there, so seeing Hyperkin announce a new Xbox controller with a symmetrical stick design is kind of weird. However, more options are always nice.

In recent years, Hyperkin has released several excellent Xbox controllers, including Hyperkin xenonan exact replica of the popular Xbox 360 controller for modern consoles. What do you make of a competitor? Would you choose this? Let us know in the comments.