Controllers will not change in appearance in the near future, but will get significantly more features. (Image source: PowerA)
When do you think the last time something fundamental changed with controllers? Really industry-wide and sustainable for all gamepads, not just in terms of exclusive features like the HD Rumble of the Switch JoyCons or the adaptive triggers of the PS5 DualSense?
I would probably have to go back in time to the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii era, when the first pro controllers with shortened trigger travel and back buttons appeared, gamepads became wireless and motion control became popular thanks to the Wiimote.
At this year's gamescom, I noticed a similar dynamic, albeit on a smaller scale. No matter which peripheral manufacturer I stopped at, I was consistently thrown the same trendy features at me, including Hall effect sticks.
And I don’t think that’s a bad thing at all, because I really liked the new features!
There is no way around the Hall effect
Stick drift has become an increasing nuisance in recent years, especially with the vulnerable JoyCons on the Nintendo Switch, which even resulted in several civil lawsuits. But other pads for PlayStation and Co. also suffer from stick drifting as they get older.
Some manufacturers – most notably the Chinese accessories supplier GuliKit – saw the controversy as the perfect opportunity to bring back the decades-old Hall effect technology in a souped-up form and to advertise its “driftlessness”.
Although most manufacturers initially remained loyal to potentiometers, at this year's gamescom I quickly realized that Hall sensors DEM This should be the standard in the next few years. Industry-wide!
By the way, Nintendo’s big offense was also heavily advertised: My contacts constantly made reference to the JoyCons, saying that the Hall effect sticks are supposed to last much longer and cause far fewer problems.
Potentiometer? Pah, yesterday's dirt!
For reasons of sustainability and especially with regard to my wallet, I think this is absolutely great. But I am still curious to see how the controllers implement the Hall effect sensors, because there are big differences in production.
In practice, Hall effect sticks tend to have a larger natural drift than sticks with potentiometers, for example, which is compensated for by so-called dead zones. Larger dead zones reduce precision somewhat, but this can be counteracted with mechanical aids.
With this Wolverine V3 Pro, a stick without a dead zone drifts by seven percent. Potentiometers are usually in the per mille range, but only in the first few months. After that, Hall effect sticks achieve similar or better values.
I am therefore curious to see how products for those on a tighter budget perform in practice, as they could potentially save on the stick improvements.
However, I don't think that the disadvantage will be particularly noticeable, because controllers with potentiometers also use dead zones, and these are sometimes larger than those of Hall effect pads, since the components start to wear out after just a few months.
Micro switches, trigger stops and shoulder buttons, wherever the eye can see
In addition to the Hall effect sticks, there were a few other trends that I noticed in many products. For example, many controllers came with tactile micro switches on the action buttons, the D-pad and the shoulder buttons.
Including the newly announced Nacon Revolution X Unlimited:
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NACON Revolution X announced with tactile buttons, display and Hall effect sticks
The mechanical switches provide a slight resistance that results in a noticeable click, it also feels a bit like you are clicking a mouse. I quite like this because each press is accompanied by noticeable button feedback.
Just like with the Revolution X, I also discovered some controllers that had three pairs of shoulder buttons instead of two. So far, I have only seen this on the Razer Wolverine V2 Pro and I think the idea is absolutely brilliant, Because they seem intuitive to me as back keys or paddles and are easier to learn to use:
One of the new products was the OPS V3 from PowerA, which also optimises the concept: It uses narrower, slightly offset additional buttons that have their own ergonomics and therefore stand out clearly from the haptic feel of the shoulder buttons and triggers. This means that unintentional activations are much less common.
The additional buttons are really easy to operate.
Some other controllers are still under wraps, but I can already reveal them: PowerA, Razer and Nacon are not the only ones using these and the other technologies mentioned! The field of competition is big and I hope that this competition will shake up the dormant controller segment for a long time to come.
Comparable, for example, to back buttons and trigger stops, which were reserved for pro devices for a long time, but can now even be found on cheap 40 to 80 euro pads. At least at the trade fair, I hardly saw any controllers without them.
Console manufacturers must follow suit
Unsurprisingly, Sony and Microsoft are still missing on the Hall effect, micro switch and shoulder button front, but given that we are in the middle of the current gen cycle, this is not surprising. Larger controller iterations are simply not to be expected anymore.
Just like the Nintendo Switch. It is expected to receive a successor model next year, if current rumors are to be believed:
However, the comparatively smaller third-party manufacturers are currently setting an impulse that should also extend to the big players in the controller market and I hope that the feature ranges will also be found in the new DualSense 2 or Xbox Elite V4.
Because the little innovations make gamepads a whole lot better!
Do you wish these pro features were available on cheaper pads? What are the most common?
