Sony's DualSense controllers already had a reputation for poor battery life. However, the upgraded DualSense Edge appears to be even worse. Sony's solution to this poor wireless battery life is to leave the controller plugged in. No, really.

Sony confirmed to our sister site TechRadar Gaming (opens in new tab) that the DualSense Edge has slightly worse battery life than the original DualSense controller, thanks to new features in the same form factor was:

"The DualSense Edge wireless controller has a moderately shorter operating time than the original DualSense wireless controller.

Somewhat redundantly, Sony also noted in its statement that keeping the controller connected preserves battery life:

"We wanted to combine wireless operating time with robust, high-performance features. Additionally, the longer USB braided cable is ideal for competitive players who prefer to play with a wired connection to avoid wireless interference.

So. The solution to poor battery life is to leave the DualSense Edge plugged in.

Incidentally, according to TechRadar, the original DualSense lasted about 12 hours of use when new, but as the battery drained, it dropped to about 6 hours (open in a new tab) over the course of a year. Sony has not explicitly stated the battery life of the Edge, but the fact that they admit that the Edge does worse than the original unit is hardly a good sign.

In any case, the DualSense Edge, while PC-compatible, does not seem like an attractive alternative to the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 (opens in new tab), which has a battery life of 30-40 hours. Especially considering that Sony's new controller is more expensive at $200/£209. Yikes.