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

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

Black, white and $84.99

• 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

How to actually get one

Sony's described the run as limited, and limited-edition DualSense controllers tied to a big launch have a long history of selling out inside the first hour and turning up 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 your colour beforehand so you're not making up your mind in the queue. Retailer stock usually opens at the same moment but not always, so it's worth keeping a second tab open on a retailer.

One thing that catches people out: the PlayStation Direct queue holds your place but doesn't hold stock. Get through the queue, start browsing, and the controller's gone.

Is $84.99 worth it?

$84.99 is roughly a $10 premium over a standard DualSense at list. That's a smaller markup than most special editions carry. And where a lot of licensed hardware comes from a third party, these are made by Sony itself, so inside it's the same controller you'd buy anyway.

The one thing to know is that DualSense drift hits special editions exactly as much as it hits standard ones, and a controller you bought as a collectible is a worse thing to have to send away for repair. If you're planning to actually play with it instead of keeping it on a shelf, factor that in.

The controller's the cheap part

A launch controller is the cheap end of the hardware decision. The expensive end is whether you've got 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're one of them, the controller's the last thing to worry about and storage is the first: the download runs to roughly 200GB and preloading opens on 12 November.

There's 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 at the same time.

Don't pay resale

Seriously, don't. These are cosmetic variants of a controller that'll be in stock at list price forever, and the resale premium in the first week after a sell-out is the worst price this thing will ever have.