At last, the Sony PlayStation community has its high-end equivalent to Microsoft’s celebrated professional-caliber Elite Xbox One Controller. Vaunted third-party manufacturers Nacon and Razer have both unveiled their own sleek, customizable controllers set to reach PlayStation 4 owners just in time for the 2016 holiday shopping season.
From comparatively casual, non-professional everyday players to the cream of performance-obsessed eSports competitors, the Elite Controller was an instant hit that sold out virtually as quickly as retailers worldwide could stock them. With PlayStation hosting the Call of Duty World League earlier this year, it’s no wonder Sony would prioritize the design and performance preferences of the global professional gaming field’s highest tier. The Xbox brand has reigned for years since its introduction as the leading console by a sizable margin among eSports communities worldwide. With this prestigious inroad to the world’s most respected Call of Duty competitors, Sony now has an opportunity waiting at its doorstep for the PlayStation brand to rival Microsoft on ground where the Xbox originators have held a prolonged upper hand dating back over a decade.
Of the two pro controllers, the Nacon Revolution most closely apes the Elite by a sizable degree. Like Microsoft’s high-end model, it has the appealing heft that Xbox aficionados have always championed as a superior selling point over PlayStation controllers. For players who prefer to personally tweak their hardware to suit their styles of play, it also features adjustable triggers, four shortcut buttons, and additional buttons on the back to fine-tune individually ideal configurations for any game. The Revolution also embraces the diagonal thumbsticks widely preferred by eSports players over traditional parallel alignments, as well as a smoother 8-way directional pad. Throw in a 3.5mm headset jack, and there isn’t much Nacon’s model doesn’t offer that any player at any level would miss.
The Razer Raiju appeals to a slightly different approach: competitively engineered eSports performance packaged to please players who prefer the Dual Shock 4’s look and feel. Much like the Revolution, it features additional buttons on the back for personally adjustable configurations, but sticks with PlayStation’s traditional 4-way directional pad and parallel thumbsticks. It stands out from the garden-variety Dual Shock 4 with blue thumbstick surfaces and matching grips, as well as handy hair triggers for reflex-instant actions when quickness matters most.
Neither Nacon nor Razer has released concrete pricing or release dates for their respective controllers, but it isn’t unrealistic to imagine both falling within the Xbox One Elite Controller’s $100-$150 neighborhood.
