PS5 CONTROLLER FOR XBOX???? Hyperkin The Competitor Review

At first glance, you’d be forgiven for thinking this was a DualShock 5 controller for a PS5. I mean the resemblance is striking. That is, until you notice the logo in the middle. Yep, that’s an Xbox logo! This is an officially licensed controller, and even better, it’s only $50, or just £40! There are a few catches to that, of course, so let’s dive into the Hyperkin “The Competitor” controller! I figure the name is a bit of a gag about the design, right? “The Competitor” feels very intentional, and pretty funny.

Right off the bat, this is a PlayStation layout. Both thumbsticks are right there in the middle, rather than the offset layout you’ll find on most other Xbox controllers. That isn’t the only design cue they copied – no the D Pad is the exact same style, as are the ABXY buttons – which yes are ABXY, not the PS layout – and of course at least in this white layout it follows the PlayStation colour way too. For those of you that prefer the PS layout, but want to game on an Xbox – or more likely want a fully supported controller on PC with that layout – this sure seems like the perfect choice for you! Of course looks can be deceiving so let’s take a little closer of a look…

First, those sticks. These are hall effect sticks, meaning they’ll never drift, and assuming you don’t abuse them too hard, should never fail. They’ve got very nice low friction rings around the edge so they feel pretty good, and even better, they’ve got easily replaceable tips! They actually come with two styles in the box. The ones that come on the controller are the PlayStation style convex tips, and the spares are Xbox style concave. Sadly it doesn’t seem like they sell spares though, which really is a shame as the tips are basically wear items. At least you’ve got two kinds to go through! The other thing that’s hall effect is the triggers – these are less likely to drift, but it’s still nice. Supposedly these are “impulse triggers” to, and I quote, “Feel every bullet fired and engine throttled with immersive trigger vibration for countless gaming sessions.” I don’t know what throttling an engine has to do with anything, but I can’t say I noticed. This might have to be on an Xbox or use a supported game though. I can say the regular vibration feels decent enough though!

The general feel of the controller is actually pretty nice. The buttons have a decent tactile feel – they aren’t overly clicky or special, but they’re good enough for sure. They’ve got a decent bit of travel. Basically, they aren’t anything crazy, but feel nice enough. That goes for the D Pad and the bumpers too. The unique thing here, besides the styling anyway, is the two macro buttons on the back. These buttons can be reprogrammed with the M button in the middle – just by holding one of the macro buttons and M, then the controller will vibrate and you tap the button you want to map it to, and hey presto. Interestingly, one feature that is missing for the triggers – a slide-in lock for FPS games – IS present for these macro buttons. Slide the lock and the button is locked out. Slide it back and it’s yours to use again. Why they’ve opted for these macro locks but not trigger limiters (be that instead of, or as well as), I’m not entirely sure. I should note while we’re back here that the back of the controller is just a nicely textured plastic, not a textured rubber like it looks like. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing – it actually feels really nice in the hand and provides a surprising amount of grip despite being just plain plastic. 

There are two ports on this thing. One down the bottom for your headset, and a USB C up top. It’s worth noting that this is a wired-only controller. Holding the Xbox button doesn’t do anything, there’s no battery or wireless support. You’ll need to use the included incredibly long USB A to C cable included. That isn’t anything overly special either. It’s a hard plastic outer that retains its shape pretty heavily, but it’s fine. Of course, being wired only you do get a few benefits. No need to charge it, and in theory any better latency. Luckily I build a tool to test just that, so firing up my open source latency testing tool (available at OSRTT.com by the way, link in the description) we find a very respectable result of 13.7 millisecond on average. That’s the third fastest controller I’ve tested – and that’s even more impressive when you realise this thing doesn’t have a high polling rate option! This is capped at 250Hz – although unlike those terrible budget controllers I checked out recently (video in the cards above), this one is rock solid at 250Hz. The controller in here is clearly capable of faster, but thanks to being an official Xbox licensed controller, it has to comply with the Xbox requirements, and they say 250Hz is the max. Still, despite that, this thing is decently fast. Good job there!

For actually gaming with it, I’m genuinely really happy with it. It feels great in the hands, and for what I’d argue are controller-appropriate games – racing games, and stuff like skate. – it’s brilliant. The sticks are smooth and responsive, the latency spot on, and for Dirt Rally 2.0 in particular it was perfect for controlling the car. The rumble gave a decent amount of feedback, The triggers felt great and gave a nice level of control for the throttle and brake – although I can’t say I noticed any feedback there. If I had to have a complaint, it would only be that the B button which is handbrake was a little long in the travel for a pro feel. Luckily the back button is mapped to B by default so it was actually easier and nicer feeling to use that one. Profit. For Skate, that right stick is what you’re using most, and that feels great too. The mixture of the metal slip ring and smooth outer plastic ring make it nice to do your flick tricks, and the little bit of vibration feedback feels decent too. Of course I did have to try some FPS games, and this is where I very quickly reach my skill ceiling. Me and FPS games on controllers have never gotten on – I moved to PC for FPS games over a decade ago and haven’t looked back, so maybe check out some other folk’s reviews to find out what they think of this, but I enjoyed it enough. It’s obviously missing the now pretty common trigger locks that give you a snappier experience and better feedback, but for a standard style controller I’m pretty happy with this.

Considering this thing costs the same as an official controller, it’s hard to to be happy with this. Sure, it’s missing wireless connectivity, and for some that’s going to be a deal breaker. I get it. But if you want a more reliable connection, and likely most important for this thing, you prefer the PlayStation layout but want to game on Xbox or PC, I can’t find a single good reason for me to not recommend this thing. It’s built well, it’s an exceptional price, and while it isn’t the most feature rich, this gets you like 90, maybe 95, percent the way to those £100-250 controllers from the likes of Razer, and that’s really impressive. The fact this comes with hall effect sticks and triggers already puts this above my own go-to controller, the Razer Wolverine V2 Chroma, and the fit-and-finish is a lot better than a number of the other more budget controllers I’ve tested recently like the NYXI Master P1 or PXN P5. So yeah, in short, great job Hyperkin.