{"id":787066,"date":"2026-01-27T16:43:01","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T16:43:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.abnewswire.com\/pressreleases\/?p=787066"},"modified":"2026-01-27T16:43:01","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T16:43:01","slug":"hlplanet-controller-of-the-year-awards-the-2025-winners-announced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.abnewswire.com\/pressreleases\/hlplanet-controller-of-the-year-awards-the-2025-winners-announced_787066.html","title":{"rendered":"HLPLANET Controller of the Year Awards: The 2025 Winners Announced"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"float:right;  width:250px; padding:8px 10px 10px 10px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.abnewswire.com\/upload\/2026\/01\/1769538574.jpg\" style=\"border:none !important;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-29\" title=\"HLPLANET Controller of the Year Awards: The 2025 Winners Announced\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abnewswire.com\/upload\/2026\/01\/1769538574.jpg\" alt=\"HLPLANET Controller of the Year Awards: The 2025 Winners Announced\" width=\"225\" height=\"225\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">HLPLANET, a leading authority on gaming hardware and engineering-focused tech reviews, today announced the winners of its inaugural<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hlplanet.com\/controller-of-the-year\/\"> 2025 Controller of the Year Awards<\/a>. Following a rigorous year of testing 25 different gaming controllers, the HLPlanet editorial team has identified the standout devices that defined the industry over the past twelve months.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The awards highlight the shift toward high-performance third-party hardware, featuring brands that have pushed the boundaries of low latency,<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hlplanet.com\/controller-hall-effect-joystick\/\"> Hall Effect sensors<\/a>, and<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/tmrjoystick.com\/\"> TMR (Tunneling Magnetoresistance) technology<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">&ldquo;Our goal this year was to cut through the marketing hype and focus on the technical specs that actually matter to gamers&mdash;polling rates, build quality, and precision,&rdquo; said Marcus Richardson, Editor-in-Chief of HLPlanet. &ldquo;With so much innovation in the third-party space, 2025 was the most competitive year for gamepads we&#8217;ve ever seen.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The 2025 HLPLANET Controller of the Year Winners<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>\n<p>HLPLANET Controller of the Year: Flydigi Vader 5 Pro Taking the top spot for its &#8220;extremely well-rounded&#8221; performance, the Vader 5 Pro edged out the competition with its superior balance of speed, features, and comfort for under $100.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Premium Controller of the Year: Flydigi Apex 5 Crowned the &#8220;Apex of controllers,&#8221; this flagship device was recognized for its innovative adaptive triggers, customizable screen, and elite build quality.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Budget Controller of the Year: GameSir Nova 2 Lite At just $30, the Nova 2 Lite won for offering high-end features like a mechanical D-pad and back buttons that rival controllers five times its price.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Specialist Excellence Controller Awards<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">HLPlanet also recognized several controllers that mastered specific engineering niches:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>\n<p>Fastest Controller of the Year: GuliKit ES Pro<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Most Versatile Controller of the Year: 8BitDo Ultimate 2 Wireless<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Symmetrical Controller of the Year: 8BitDo Pro 3<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Xbox Controller of the Year: GameSir G7 Pro Wuchang<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Switch 2 Controller of the Year: EasySMX S10<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Most Innovative Controller of the Year: Mobapad Huben 2<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The awards also included &#8220;Fang&rsquo;s Choice,&#8221; a personal selection from HLPlanet Editor and hardware YouTuber<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCCJsYkBVahvpqCrC5W7B50w\"> Fang Reviews Tech<\/a>, who highlighted the Flydigi Apex 5 as his personal gold standard for 2025.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">For a full breakdown of the winners, runner-ups, and detailed technical reviews, visit the official awards page at<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hlplanet.com\/controller-of-the-year\/\"> HLPlanet&rsquo;s Controller of the Year 2025 Awards<\/a> page.<\/p>\n<p><span style='font-size:18px !important;'>Media Contact<\/span><br \/><strong>Company Name:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.abnewswire.com\/companyname\/hlplanet.com_168588.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">HLPLANET<\/a><br \/><strong>Email:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.abnewswire.com\/email_contact_us.php?pr=hlplanet-controller-of-the-year-awards-the-2025-winners-announced\" rel=\"nofollow\">Send Email<\/a><br \/><strong>City:<\/strong> Manchester<br \/><strong>Country:<\/strong> United Kingdom<br \/><strong>Website:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hlplanet.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/www.hlplanet.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abnewswire.com\/press_stat.php?pr=hlplanet-controller-of-the-year-awards-the-2025-winners-announced\" alt=\"\" width=\"1px\" height=\"1px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>HLPLANET, a leading authority on gaming hardware and engineering-focused tech reviews, today announced the winners of its inaugural 2025 Controller of the Year Awards. Following a rigorous year of testing 25 different gaming controllers, the HLPlanet editorial team has identified &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.abnewswire.com\/pressreleases\/hlplanet-controller-of-the-year-awards-the-2025-winners-announced_787066.html\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[421,408,449,442,411],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-787066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-Computers-Software","category-Electronics-Semiconductors","category-Gaming","category-Shopping-Deal","category-Technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abnewswire.com\/pressreleases\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abnewswire.com\/pressreleases\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abnewswire.com\/pressreleases\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abnewswire.com\/pressreleases\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abnewswire.com\/pressreleases\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=787066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.abnewswire.com\/pressreleases\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787066\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abnewswire.com\/pressreleases\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=787066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abnewswire.com\/pressreleases\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=787066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abnewswire.com\/pressreleases\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=787066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}