Ninja Gaiden 2 Black doesn't register Xbox controllers on PC Game Pass, but you can play with a DualSense

If you were excited to head to PC Game Pass today to download Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, which was stealth-dropped after Xbox's Developer Direct last night, you may be in for some technical troubles.

Being a nostalgic hack-and-slash adventure, one of the best Xbox Series X controllers is likely what you'll reach for when booting up the game since it's probably what you experienced the original release with. This is exactly the thought I had this afternoon after installing all 80GB of the game in the morning, but I couldn't get any of the Xbox controllers in my collection to register inputs in the game.

I tried wired connections, wireless connections, disabling Steam, and restarting the game along my system, but it was to no avail. I kept getting stuck on the main menu, with no controller inputs being registered. After taking to Reddit to see if other people were dealing with the same issue, I did find a few users struggling to get their gamepads to connect, although it seems as though the Steam version of the game doesn't have this issue.

Funnily enough, one Redditor suggested that using a DualShock 4 alleviated all the issues, with even the PS4's controller speaker piping up in the game. I promptly connected my DualSense Edge, and what do you know, the game had no trouble registering my actions.

It should be said that on a different PC, trying to cloud stream the new Ninja Gaiden didn't work with any controller, regardless of whether it was made by Microsoft or not.

It's utterly bizarre that the Xbox Game Pass version of one of the brand's first-party titles has trouble recognizing its own officially licensed peripherals. I know that today, everything is an Xbox and that all of the games in last night's direct are coming to PS5, but this feels a little silly.

In fact, it's a rare occurrence for a title on Game Pass to even have PS5 controller support since a lot of them don't have allowances for different button glyphs to appear on screen. Thankfully, Ninja Gaiden 2 Black's settings allow you to completely swap out the typical X, Y, B, and A buttons for PlayStation's.

Other Reddit posts detail some technical issues with the Game Pass port of the remastered Team Ninja title, including frame rate dips and crashes. I have suffered a few crashes while trying to boot the game, even while playing on one of the best gaming PCs with solid specs.

Oddly enough, the Steam port of the game doesn't seem to be suffering from the same issues, which could have something to do with the certification and licensing process of software updates for console platforms. Some players are even reporting solid performance on the best gaming handhelds like the Steam Deck.

Hopefully, these issues aren't too far away from being patched, since it isn't the best look for PC Game Pass players needing a PlayStation controller to enjoy a new Xbox game. Ninja Gaiden 2 Black is available now as part of the subscription service, and a long-awaited sequel in the series, Ninja Gaiden 4, will launch later this year.

Looking to add to your controller collection? Read about the best PC controllers, the best Nintendo Switch controllers, and the best joysticks.