The PS5’s DualSense controller has 40,000 tiny hand-sketched PlayStation symbols for grip

Sony’s gamepads for their PlayStation consoles have been legendary in their own right. From the original DualShock controller, every new gamepad has seen significant improvements—right up to the DualSense controller that comes with the PlayStation 5. Sony’s latest gamepad comes with a bunch of adaptive triggers and vibrating motors that are supposed to deliver a more immersive feel to games compared to its predecessors.

As it turns out, however, Sony has also inserted an easter egg of sorts into the DualSense gamepad. The Verge recently reported that the DualSense controller has a microtexture on its lower shell that’s made up of 40,000 tiny, almost microscopic PlayStation symbols. The DualSense controller is supposed to be Sony’s “most grippable gamepad”, and a large part of that is down to the tens of thousands of miniscule squares, circles, triangles, and crosses.

These images, courtesy of The Verge, will tell the story better than I can:

If you look (very, very) closely, you’ll see that the symbols don’t appear to be set in a very organised manner—it almost looks random, to be honest. This is because the design was sketched out by hand, with multiple hand-crafted designs tested until the Sony design team settled on a texture that provided grip for long hours of gaming (without feeling overly rough).

One of the main challenges to making this decision was to settle on the size of the engraved symbols. After going through multiple tests and prototype devices, Sony’s microtexture was finally made up of two layers: a 15-micron-tall layer, and another layer of icons that is 30 microns in height. But you probably won’t be able to tell this with your regular camera equipment at home; The Verge only manage to ascertain this by using an industrial Nikon LV100 microscope:

So, are these actually engraved onto the DualSense’s shell? Not exactly. Each circle, triangle, square, and cross symbol is created as part of the mold, so the microtexture is genuinely a part of the controller’s body. The challenge for Sony here was to create a mold that could incorporate such precise shapes on a curved surface—one that needed a supposedly hard-to-find multi-axis laser engraving machine.

Meanwhile, the same microtexture is also seen on other bits of the PS5 ecosystem. For example, the texture is also seen on the side panels of the Sony PS5 console, while the PS5 Media Remote also has these tiny symbols, just like the Dual Sense charging station and the Sony Pulse 3D wireless headset. You can even spot a virtual version of the texture in Astro’s Playroom, if you keep your eye out for it.

So, what do you think? While subtle touches like the microtexture may not actually improve gameplay, these easter eggs add to the wonder and history that iconic consoles carry with them. And if you’re keen to pick up a PS5 for yourself, official pricing in Malaysia is as follows:

Sony PlayStation 5 Digital Edition – RM1,869 
Sony PlayStation 5 (Ultra HD Blu-ray) – RM2,299.

To read The Verge‘s original post and interview, click here.

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