Your PS4 controller will not work with Sony’s upcoming PlayStation 5

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If you’re excited about Sony’s next-gen console, the PlayStation 5, and have big plans for some couch-op gaming, I’ve got some bad news. Your trusty PlayStation 4 controllers will not work with PS5 games.

Announced via a PlayStation Blog post going over peripherals on the PlayStation 5, we have learned that your perfectly-fine DualShock 4 controllers will not work with PS5. According to Isabelle Tomatis, Peripherals Marketing and Licensing at Sony, “We believe that PS5 games should take advantage of the new capabilities and features we’re bringing to the platform, including the features of DualSense wireless controller.”

So, why is this? Well, the upcoming controller, the DualSense controller, is going to have features that current controllers do not have. The most obvious example is the haptic feedback of the DualSense controller. Think of this as super-advanced rumble features that can also make things like your control sticks feel differently depending on the in-game situation. It will allow you to feel things not currently possible with the PS4 controller and this will be utilized on many PS5 games.

It’s not all bad, however. There will be plenty of backwards-compatible PlayStation 4 games that you can play on Sony’s next-gen console, and for those games, you’ll be able to hook up your current PS4 controllers and play that way.

While it is a bummer that you will not be able to use your current controllers, overall, the move does make sense. If you want to catch up on all the PlayStation 5 news, make sure to check out our PS5 guide here.

What do you think? Did you expect the PS4 controller to work with the PlayStation 5? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

Editors’ Recommendations:

• Sony is apparently ramping PlayStation 5 production up by 50% to meet COVID-19 demand
• Here’s where you’ll be able to preorder a PlayStation 5 when it releases later this year
• How much you pay for your PS5 could be directly influenced by the price of the Xbox Series X
• The Xbox Series X must be a PC because Gabe Newell says it’s better than the PlayStation 5

Josiah Motley

Former KnowTechie editor.