

Subscriptions help fund the work we do every day. This includes unlimited access to and our print magazine (if you'd like). Special offer for Gear readers: Get a 1-year subscription to WIRED for $5 ($25 off). Updated March 2021: We adjusted pricing throughout this guide, wrote some tips on how far to sit from your TV or monitor, and added the PS5 DualSense controller. Here are the best gaming controllers, official and unofficial, for the Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox (One and Series X/S), and PC.īe sure to read our guides to the Best Gaming Headsets, Best Gaming Mouse, and Best Gaming Laptops for more recommendations. We've tried a bunch of them in the past couple of years, and these are our favorites.

In recent years though, companies like Scuf and Astro have donned their armor and unfurled their banners on a quest to rebuild the reputation of "off-brand" gamepads, one controller at a time. Those kinds of controllers gave third-party gamepads a bad name-one that persists to this day. It was reserved for kid siblings and houseguests you maybe didn't like that much. Years ago, third-party gaming controllers were dirt cheap and notorious for their poor craftsmanship-especially the eggshell-plastic MadCatz knockoffs.
