First, I thought Xbox was charging too much for the Xbox Elite Controller V2. Then I thought Sony was charging too much for the DualSense Edge. Are we engaged in some kind of pro-tier controller arms race? That seems entirely likely because Razer’s unveiled the pricing on its Wolverine V2 Pro controller and it’s taken the price up again.
Releasing in the US at the end of the year, the Razer Wolverine V2 Pro weighs in at a whopping $AU475.95.
I know. Take a minute to absorb that. Drink some water. Go for a walk around the block. Stare forlornly into the middle distance for a minute. Whatever will help get you through this moment.
What is this controller doing to justify a price point that high? It’s borrowed the Xbox Controller’s offset-stick design and overall form factor, certainly. That’s fine. Some people prefer the offset-stick design to the PlayStation’s traditionally parallel-stick design. I’m one of those people. I couldn’t tell you why, it’s just a personal thing. I’ve always preferred having the sticks offset (though the DualSense controller is, I’ll own, the first time I’ve found the parallel-stick config quite comfortable).
Ok, that’s fine, I hear you say, but I can get a hundred third-party controllers that do that. What else?
The controller features six remappable buttons, which is broken out into four rear paddles and a pair of buttons close to the shoulder bars. It also features a pair of magnetic stick caps (one shorter, one taller) that can be swapped in and out for comfort. The Wolverine V2 Pro can also connect the controller to an Android device running the Razer Controller app to customise stick sensitivity. The app will also let you save customised profiles for different games, so if you prefer one setup for racers and another for shooters, you can swap between them easily.
Another addition: the controller uses the same “mecha-tactile” switches as the Wolverine V2 Chroma controller, so button presses feel more like sharp little mouse clicks than a normal controller button. Depending on the kind of tactile feedback, you’ll know right away how you feel about that.
But here’s where I suspect the real reason for the controller’s sky-high price point comes from: it’s an officially licensed PlayStation controller, meaning many of the features found in the DualSense, like the precision rumble, built-in mic and adaptive triggers, will reappear here. That tech will likely have cost Razer a pretty penny to license and I would guess that’s why the price is as high as it is.
Anyway, if you’d like to buy a controller worth more than half a PlayStation 5 console, you can have a gander at the Wolverine V2 Pro right over here.
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