Two controllers. One white, one black. Both £74.99, both with the VI logo engraved into the touchpad and palm tree etchings wrapped around the grips.
Preorders for Grand Theft Auto 6’s special edition DualSense controllers are open in the UK right now, and the black one is already the problem.
The black one is a PS Direct exclusive, and that’s the bottleneck
There’s already a substantial queue for anyone trying to preorder the black GTA 6 controller, which is exclusive to PS Direct. Queues there are huge at the moment as customers pile in.
If you’re after the white version, don’t bother sitting in that line. You can order it everywhere except Amazon, at least for now, and retailers like Argos or Smyths will save you from waiting over an hour. The major retailers seem to be running a bit behind the smaller ones on this, though we expect that to change soon.
Either way, you’re not touching these things until the game arrives on November 19.
Why the hardware push makes sense now
Last week Rockstar debuted the first gameplay for GTA 6 and invited select media to participate in previews. After years of extended silence from the studio, that drought appears to be ending, with the November release date locked in.
PlayStation has been boasting that GTA 6 will “play best” on PS5, promising unique, exclusive features on the console. The game will take advantage of the DualSense controller’s speakers, haptic feedback, adaptive triggers and the console’s Tempest 3D AudioTech. So a pair of themed pads isn’t exactly a random tie-in.
The bundle that didn’t show up
What’s missing is a console bundle. It’s unclear whether one is coming, but it seems slightly unlikely now.
A controller announcement is the natural moment to reveal a bundle alongside it, and neither Sony nor Rockstar confirmed anything of the sort. Read into that what you want.
For now, the choice is simple: white, available almost everywhere, or black, available in a queue.
