Razer has announced two new Wolverine controllers for Xbox Series X|S and PC, and both are available….well, now, October 6. The wireless Wolverine V4 Pro costs £199.99/$199.99, while the wired Wolverine V4 Tournament Edition comes in at £99.99/$99.99. So basically, you can save money by occasionally tripping over a wire.
I can’t help but think Razer missed a joke here by launching the Wolverine V4 alongside Marvel’s Wolverine a few weeks ago, even if this new controller is only for Xbox and PC.
The biggest change is inside the thumbsticks. Both controllers use new capacitive sensors, with Razer claiming improved precision and resistance to magnetic interference compared with Hall effect and TMR alternatives. These are contactless sensors, and Razer describes them as drift-resistant. How well that holds up over time is something a launch announcement obviously can’t tell us.
According to the company’s announcement, the sensors work with a 16-bit ADC and register approximately 3,000 steps of movement. Basically, Razer is promising finer tracking of your stick movements, with less jitter when you’re trying to line up a shot.
There’s also support for polling rates of up to 8,000Hz on PC, including both wired and wireless connections on the Pro. That’s how often the controller reports its inputs, although Xbox players get a much lower ceiling of 250Hz. Razer also claims response times below 1ms.
As for the extra £100 the Pro will cost you, wireless connectivity is only part of it. During the briefing, Razer explained that performance was the main reason for moving to capacitive sticks, but getting away from magnetic sensing also gave it more freedom to use magnets elsewhere without interfering with the sticks.
The Pro takes advantage of that with four magnetic rear mouse-click buttons that can be removed individually, letting you keep whichever combination suits your grip. Two additional claw-grip bumpers bring the total to six programmable extra buttons, while the magnetic faceplate can be swapped out or even left off entirely, should that be your thing.
You also get six thumbstick caps: a pair each of short concave, short convex and tall concave caps. Textured TPU grips and an eight-way floating D-pad round out the Pro’s design.
The Pro also has a removable magnetic faceplate and six thumbstick caps: a pair each of short concave, short convex and tall concave caps. The faceplate can even be left off entirely, should that be your thing. Textured TPU grips and an eight-way floating D-pad round out the design.
Razer’s Pro HyperTriggers let you switch between a short mouse-click action and a full analogue pull, depending on whether you’re firing a gun or feathering the throttle. On the Pro, the company lists adjustable trigger actuation from 1.3mm to 8.2mm through Synapse. You can also save four onboard profiles and adjust stick dead zones.
The cheaper Tournament Edition keeps the capacitive sticks, six extra buttons, dual-mode triggers and 8,000Hz PC polling, but drops wireless connectivity and the Pro’s removable rear buttons, faceplate and interchangeable stick caps. It weighs 240g compared with the Pro’s 305g, too.
Both controllers are available through Razer’s website, RazerStores and selected retailers. You can find more details on Razer’s Wolverine V4 page.
