Sony's two GTA 6 DualSense controllers go up for pre-order on 10 September

Sony has revealed two limited-edition Grand Theft Auto 6 DualSense controllers, with pre-orders opening on Wednesday 10 September at 7am Pacific, 10am Eastern, through the PlayStation store and participating retailers.

What you get

• Two colourways, black and white, each with a shimmering neon finish
• Custom moulded palm tree detailing
• A VI on the touchpad
• $84.99 each
• Shipping 19 November, the same day as the game

The practical advice

Sony has described the run as limited, and limited-edition DualSense controllers tied to a major launch have a consistent history of selling out inside the first hour and reappearing on resale sites at two to three times list price within the day.

If you want one, be on the store page before 10am Eastern with your payment details already saved, and pick one colour in advance rather than deciding in the queue. Retailer stock usually opens at the same moment but not always, so having a second tab on a retailer is worth the effort.

One thing that catches people out: the PlayStation Direct queue holds your place but does not hold stock. Getting through the queue and then browsing costs you the item.

Worth it?

$84.99 is roughly a $10 premium over a standard DualSense at list. That is a smaller markup than most special editions carry, and unlike a lot of licensed hardware these are made by Sony rather than a third party, so the internals are the same controller you would buy anyway.

The one thing to be aware of is that DualSense drift affects special editions exactly as much as it affects standard ones, and a controller you bought as a collectible is a worse thing to have to send away for repair. If you intend to actually play with it rather than shelve it, factor that in.

The bigger question this sits inside

A launch controller is the cheap end of the hardware decision. The expensive end is whether you have a machine at all.

UK console sales rose 33% for PS5 and 34% for Xbox in the week after the Extended Look, which is a lot of people buying a current-generation console specifically for November. If you are one of them, the controller is the last thing to worry about and storage is the first: the download runs to roughly 200GB and preloading opens on 12 November.

There is no Xbox equivalent announced. Sony has an exclusive marketing arrangement around this launch, which is why the controllers, the console bundles and most of the launch furniture point one way even though the game ships on both platforms simultaneously.

What we would not do

Pay resale. These are cosmetic variants of a controller that will be in stock at list price forever, and the resale premium in the first week after a sell-out is the worst price this item will ever have.