PS5 DualSense Doesn’t Work Natively With PS4… But It Does With PS3

PS5’s DualSense controller doesn’t appear to work natively on PS4 but, curiously, it does connect to PS3.With PS5 peripherals on sale in the US, YouTuber Midnight Man (as spotted by VGC) managed to unbox a DualSense and test its features. In the video, we see the PS4 failing to recognise the DualSense using a USB connection, and recognising a wireless controller in its Bluetooth menu, but not allowing control once connected.

However, when connected to a PS3 using a USB controller, the DualSense is recognised and can navigate the console menus. ResetEra user iceblade has previously said that only the PS button doesn’t work when connected to the PS3 in this way, but that it can be connected wirelessly too.

There is seemingly a workaround for using DualSense on PS4 – if you connect it via USB on a PC or Mac and then use the PS4’s Remote Play function, the controller will function as expected (although it’s a pretty roundabout way of playing the console).

It’s perhaps not a surprise that Sony’s locking off DualSense functionality – as we’ve heard previously, PS5 games will require a DualSense to play, with PS4 controllers able to connect to the new console, but only able to control last-gen games.

Last week, we learned a little about DualSense’s accessibility features, including that haptic feedback can be reduced or turned off. Preorders for the PlayStation 5 are currently sold out, but if more go up they’ll be in our PS5 preorder guide right away. For everything you need to know about PlayStation 5, check out our PS5 guide.

Joe Skrebels is IGN’s Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.