Starting to regret picking up an Xbox Series X? This new controller will at least let you pretend you're using a PS5 DualSense
The Competitor enters the arena.
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As Microsoft brings more and more of its games to other platforms, you might be feeling some buyers remorse, but a new third-party Xbox Series X controller could help.
Last November, Xbox launched a new campaign under the slogan "This Is an Xbox", talking about an actual Xbox, your TV, your phone, your laptop. Essentially, it's saying that you can play Xbox games anywhere, even if it's technically not an Xbox. That sort of makes the point of owning the console Xbox a bit moot, so I'd understand if you're starting to feel like you wish you'd picked up a PS5 instead, seeing as Sony don't seem to have any intention to bring its games to anything other than PC, and only two years after the fact.
Luckily, you can soon at least help yourself feel like you're not playing an Xbox, even if you will actually be playing an Xbox (could make a drinking game out of all the times I've written Xbox here, I reckon). It's CES 2025 at the moment, one of the biggest techs around, and peripheral maker Hyperkin has just announced a brand new Xbox controller. It's called The Competitor, and in the video above you might notice that it looks just a little bit familiar.
The controller has obviously been designed to look like the PS5's DualSense, with analogue sticks level next to each other, clear plastic buttons, and a sleek white and black design. If you only took a quick glance at it you'd probably think it was a DualSense! But that Xbox logo button in place of the touchpad gives the game away pretty quickly.
You can also use The Competitor (great name, by the way) on PC, so if your Xbox is actually your computer, you're sorted there! Now all we need is an Xbox-themed PlayStation controller and we're set.