Sony cancels the McDualSense controller

As part of its 50th-anniversary celebration, McDonald's Australia planned to hold an entire week of festivities. This would have included a week-long gaming stream with giveaway prizes such as a custom-themed McDonald's DualSense controller.

Despite the mostly positive reception that fans had to the McDualSense, it appears that Sony has decided to block the McDualSense from releasing.

McDonald's PS5 Dualsense controller ditches the default two-tone colorway. Instead, it adorns the DualSense with the company's red, yellow, and white colors, with the McDonald's symbol prominently featured on the touchpad. McDonald's also threw in a couple of burgers and fries on the right side of the controller for good measure.

Had Sony greenlit the design, Mcdonald's Australia would have given away a total of 50 DualSense controllers. What's next for McDonald's Australia? For a company that uses the phrase "Play has no limits" to market the PlayStation 5, Sony puts a lot of limitations as far as customizing the PS5 goes.

In addition to the cancellation of the McDualSense, McDonald's Australia also announced that it had decided to postpone the company's 50th anniversary Birthday Stream Week to an unknown date.

The statement, which is available on Press Start Australia, confirms that the stream week will not push through starting on August 1.

What's more, the initial plans have also since changed. In particular, the company has decided to change all the prizes that it had originally announced.

The new giveaways will include 50th Birthday Hoodies and 50 channel subscriptions. However, Sony has decided to send the McDualSense back to the kitchen. Apparently, Sony had not yet authorized McDonald's Australia to use the DualSense in any promotional material.

Sony did not specify the reason for the cancelation. Then again, this shouldn't come off as a huge surprise. Sony is stingy when it comes to releasing custom accessories for the PS5. The company even went as far as to threaten retailers with legal action back in late 2020, in order to get customizers to stop creating personalized aftermarket plates and skins for the next-gen console.

Of course, Sony probably isn't the only one to blame here. McDonald's could have run into production issues and decided to drop the unique PS5 controller instead of fighting for it. Their planning around this entire marketing campaign also comes off as very sub-par.

If it's any consolation, PS5 owners aren't completely stuck with the default color scheme of the DualSense. Sony released two additional DualSense colors in 2021. It's only a matter of time before Sony decides to cash in on all the hype that the DualSense is generating by releasing more colors available for the controllers.