McDonald’s Australia announced last week that it would give away a limited number of special edition PS5 controllers, each customised to include illustrations of burgers and fries along with an asymmetric white, red, and yellow colour scheme. It kicked off an internet-wide discussion of whether they were cool or not – all of which turned out to be academic when Sony reportedly stepped in to block the controllers from being released at all.
As reported by Press Start, the stream week set to include the controller giveaways was suddenly postponed, and McDonald’s confirmed that, when it does happen, fast food-themed DualSense controllers will not be a part of the celebrations anymore.
“Sony PlayStation has not authorised the use of its controller in promotional materials related to the proposed Stream Week event and we apologise for any inconvenience caused,” wrote a spokesperson. “McDonald’s stream week has been postponed and Sony PlayStation controllers will not be included in the giveaway.”
Sony has released very few official versions of the DualSense controllers since PS5’s launch, which might account for why it stepped in here. Famously, the company has even had a part in forcing custom PS5 parts makers to cancel all their pre-order sales.
The closest you’re going to get to the McDonald’s design is painting your own white controller and, unless you’re one of these people, we don’t suggest you try that. If you do want something a little different, we do at least now have the choice of black and red controller options.
The one outstanding question, of course, is whether the controllers were merely a concept, or if McDonald’s had already had some made. If it’s the latter, you can probably bet on one of these becoming a hugely valuable video game collector’s item in the years to come.
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.
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