Dave_at_Home
Member
I could probably replace the battery in the DS4 as quickly as I would be fiddling with a couple of eneloops on an XBONE controller....
Loose controllers inside your controller, controllers not touching the contact points, covers of the battery compartment falling off, batteries falling off are all real issues. Besides, putting batteries in things seems so much like we are still in the VCR era. Sony could always go for a huge 4000 mAh battery like I have in my phone, but it's always a balancing act, and cost would be an issue in that scenario.
The other thing and most important bit is this. Controller features, yes they do drain battery life, but the features overcomes having more battery life at the cost of such features.....DS4: only controller to have a trackpad, led for visual imagery/cues and for VR, it is also a motion controller, it debuted with an audio jack and speaker, whilst the other controllers never offered these features. I'd take these features over a basic controller with 40 hours of battery life anyday, where I have to swap eneloops, make sure sure my investment in eneloops and AA chargers are sustained and that the batteries are always charged when I need them. Usually people forget to charge AA batteries because it's lasts 40 hours right? So they still run into having to charge anyway.
I game for a session, I charge, but let's be clear. Which enthusiast or even casual gamer who always talks about gaming with friends and family only have 1 controller? You buy a console and throughout it's lifespan, you only have one controller?
That's crazy fast charging. After an intense gaming session you can just take a short break and continue to game for many more hours.
I think this is why Sony chose to put so many features in the controller since it won't be an issue for most people.
Pretty much all what they said. I'll take 10-12 hour battery if it means a game can fully utilize haptic feedback and adaptive triggers for those hours.