Sony announced its Bluetooth FlexStrike wireless fight stick last July, and now we know when it will ship and how much it will cost: $200, with preorders opening June 12 and a release date of Aug. 6.
The new stick is set to release alongside Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, a new fighting game from developer Arc System Works, which is the team behind the Guilty Gear and BlazBlue franchises.
Unlike other fight sticks, Sony designed the FlexStrike to integrate with the PlayStation ecosystem. It has DualSense-style controls including touchpad, Share, Options, L3 and R3 buttons, which should make it easy to use all the controller’s functionality while playing, unlike other sticks that use a generic button layout to support multiple platforms.
If you only want to use it to control your character in a fighting game, you can leave the DualSense wireless controller connected to the PS5 for navigating menus. The FlexStrike can also connect to a Pulse Elite wireless headset via a PS Link USB adapter, allowing for ultra-low latency audio and voice chat, as well as connecting to another FlexStrike via the link for head-to-head matches.
Sony claims the FlexStrike is capable of input lag as low as 4ms and up to 40 hours of battery life.
Sony designed the stick to offer ergonomic positioning of your wrists and hands, as well as to make it thinner than traditional fight sticks. It has a built-in storage compartment to hold a PS Link USB adapter and cables. It even comes with its own crossbody carrying case.
Stephan is the sports journalist for the Maple Grove Report.
