HORI is releasing the first-ever third-party PS5 controllers

HORI has just revealed the first-ever third-party PS5 controllers: The Fighting Commander OCTA and Fighting Stick α. These two controllers promise native PS5, PS4, and PC compatibility, in addition to “tournament-grade” quality.

HORI is no stranger to the gaming peripheral market and has been honing its craft in making some of the highest-quality third-party controllers in the industry. However, there’s also one particular niche that HORI has been capitalizing on for years, and it’s about to make a comeback: Fighting game controllers.

If you cast your minds back to around 2008, when Street Fighter 4 was released, there was a gold rush of Arcade Sticks and Fightpads galore, with manufacturers like Madcatz and HORI alike making some of the most well-lauded controllers in the industry. While the impact was somewhat dulled for the time that Street Fighter 5 was released, HORI is now gearing up for the next generation of fighting games.

Street Fighter 6 is currently pipped for launch in 2023. With that in mind, HORI is gearing up to release two brand-new controllers, which will be the first-ever third-party PS5 controllers.

Firstly, the HORI Fighting Commander OCTA for PS5 will be the latest in the line of Fighting Commander pads, boasting a Saturn-style six-button layout alongside a D-Pad and stick with an octagonal gate. Curiously, the controller also has longer grips than we’ve seen with the Fighting Commander line in the past.

The Fighting Commander OCTA also features mechanical switches, similar to those seen in a mouse for greater tactile responses. An Xbox variant of this pad has actually been out for over a year. But, now, it’s finally coming to Sony’s consoles as the first-ever licensed third-party controller for the Playstation 5. Again, this is poised towards fans of fighting games, rather than for general use, so don’t put your Dualsense away just yet.

The Hori Fighting Commander OCTA is available now on Amazon now for $59.99.

Secondly, HORI is also releasing the Fighting Stick α, the first-ever commercially released arcade stick with native support for the PS5. Featuring a design where you can flip open the chassis for customization and maintenance, you’ll also see some higher-end components.

HORI will be making use of Hayabusa buttons and sticks with a joystick that supposedly cuts “input load” by 15%. It looks like a good midrange option for those who might want something that works on PS5 natively, with the added bonus of having all of the customizations you could want out of an arcade stick. The Xbox model of this controller launched last year.

The Hori Fighting Stick α. releases on August 8 and is up for pre-order on Amazon for $199.99.

For those of you in the scene, HORI is debuting these controllers over at their booth at EVO 2022 in Las Vegas on August 5th-7th and will be showcasing them both at their booth.

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