If you've been looking for the very best controller for any platform for the last few years, there's only one I'd point you toward. The Victrix Pro BFG first hit the shelves for PS5 players in January of 2023, and following a hop over to Xbox, it's cemented itself as one of my favorite controllers ever made. That was before Turtle Beach bought over PDP and the Victrix brand, however, and now, the best PC controller is getting a relaunch.
Although, like many onlookers, I'm a tad confused as to why. The Victrix Pro BFG Reloaded got stealthily revealed over the weekend, and from a first glance, it's very difficult to see what's new about it. The first thing I noticed was an inflated price, which immediately piqued my interest. The $179.99 / £179.99 price tag was always something that worked in its favour because it undercut a lot of the $200 competition on Xbox and PS5. It seems like Turtle Beach has missed that, however.
The Turtle Beach version of this controller is up for pre-order now, and US gamers will have to fork out an extra $30 for... not very much improvement. Thankfully, UK buyers can still get the updated controller for the same £179.99 price as always.
The Reloaded version sports Hall Effect thumbstick modules, which advance the original's potentiometers. But here's the rub that Turtle Beach probably doesn't want me telling you: You could buy Hall Effect modules for the original Pro BFG controllers already, and they'd slot right into your existing product. Granted, this new Reloaded version consolidates things into one easy purchase, but Hall Effect thumbsticks shouldn't equate to an inflated price tag. If Turtle Beach really wanted to "reload", I don't see why it wouldn't put TMR thumbsticks in the BFG, as this is the latest 2025 standard.
Elsewhere, the fightpad module that gives you six face buttons was always a distinctive feature on the Victrix Pro BFG. Turtle Beach has changed the placement of the buttons on this swappable part to be more ergonomic, but in essence, it's not all that different.
That's it. There's nothing else that Turtle Beach has chosen to improve on. One of the issues I've seen people talk about (and never really found myself) is a slight latency issue with the existing BFG controllers, but there's nothing on Turtle Beach's website to signal this has been stamped out in the Reloaded model.
My original guess was that the new version might finally give PS5 players some rumble, but this isn't mentioned anywhere either. For context, the Victrix Pro BFG for Xbox has rumble motors in it, which add a little bit of heft and a lot of great feedback when playing games. The PS5 version hasn't had those vibrating motors, which makes it feel lighter and sportier, but it definitely lacks crunchy feedback. If this isn't addressed in the Reloaded model for PS5, it'll likely be due to licensing parameters. All the other officially licensed PS5 controllers don't have haptic feedback or rumble, as this is a reserved feature for Sony's official controllers for the platform.
The Turtle Beach Victrix Pro BFG Reloaded (yes, Turtle Beach has officially slapped its name on the front of it), is available in black and white on both Xbox and PS5. This is the latest in a growing line of PDP products that Turtle Beach is re-releasing under its own name. While I understand that this is the way company buy-outs go, I did always say it'd end in tears. In many ways, the BFG feels like one of the main reasons Turtle Beach wanted to acquire PDP, because with the Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra and Turtle Beach Stealth Pivot, it's clear this brand has been trying to nail the modular controller formula. For me, the BFG is hard to beat in that arena, so you can see why it'd be a feather in Turtle Beach's cap.
So, which version of this controller should you buy? Well, as someone who has reviewed both the Xbox and PS5 versions of the original BFG, I'd be inclined to say that you should really just buy those. Especially if you're a US reader, you can save yourself some money by opting for the older BFG. Although the Hall Sensor thumbsticks in the Reloaded version will give you more futureproofing, I've not run into serious stick drift issues with the originals. If you do, you could always buy the Hall Effect modules separately, although, I have noticed that these are harder to get a hold of, and will likely continue to be more rare now that the updated version is launching.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if the original models were discontinued from here on out as stock starts to disappear. Now that Turtle Beach has a version that's directly its own, it'd make sense for the older ones to be quietly phased out.
I'll be keen to test out the Reloaded BFG to see if there are any minor differences that aren't clear from the marketing materials and retail pages. The new model is available for pre-order now, and is said to launch on September 28.
Get the original BFG controllers here:
- PS5: $169.99 at Amazon
- Xbox: $170 at Amazon
- UK PS5: £139.99 at Amazon
- UK Xbox: £140 at Amazon
The BFG is easily the best PS5 controller and the best Xbox Series X controller, but you can also read more about the best Nintendo Switch controllers.
