Sony’s illuminating PlayStation Move motion controllers are a non-essential part of the PlayStation VR experience, but if you want to get the most out of the virtual reality headset, then you’re going to need to pick up a pair. Some of the peripheral’s best games, like Beat Saber and SUPERHOT VR, require you to dual-wield the wands, while others like Batman: Arkham VR and PSVR Worlds are best experienced with the glow sticks in hand.
But where can you buy a couple of PS Move controllers for your spangly new PSVR headset? Unless you’ve picked up a bundle including the controllers in the box, then your luck may be about to run dry. Despite repackaging and rebranding the old PlayStation 3 wands for the PlayStation 4, there’s a serious shortage of these at retail right now. While stock issues were expected at launch, it's perplexing that this remains the case over two years after PSVR's introduction. In fact, so rare are the devices that most chancers are now charging triple figures for a pair.
Amazon will probably be your first port of a call, where a couple of used wands in the UK will set you back around £105 at the cheapest. Prices go up to £200 for a sealed pair – almost as much as the PSVR headset itself:
It’s a similar story on eBay, where the going rate appears to be around £50 for a single motion controller or £100 for a couple. One particular listing is charging f:0&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&siteid=3&campid=5336736927&toolid=10001&mkevt=1" rel="sponsored noopener">upwards of £600 for a twin pack, which is about the price you’d pay for a PS4 Pro, PSVR headset, and a handful of games. Take a look for yourself:
The story’s very similar in North America, with used PS Move motion controllers available for around $100, and sealed twin packs fetching up to $170:
What’s particularly problematic is that the majority of Sony’s flagship PSVR bundles do not include the motion controllers in the box. Over in Europe, you can currently buy the Mega Pack, which includes five games, a headset, and camera – but no wands. Meanwhile, in the US, there is a bundle available featuring Beat Saber and Borderlands 2 VR which includes the motion controllers, but the one that’s been getting all of the company’s marketing budget is the Moss and Astro Bot Rescue Mission option, which ships without glow sticks.
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It’s a strange situation, because the motion controllers are clearly a core part of the PSVR experience, yet they’re fetching extortionate fees. Why isn’t Sony manufacturing new units? Could it be because it has a new motion controller in the pipeline? We wouldn’t expect anything like that until the PlayStation 5, so this is presumably either a manufacturing or supply chain issue.
If you are looking to purchase a PSVR headset, though, this is something you may want to keep in mind until it’s rectified. While you don’t need the PS Move wands to experience virtual reality, you will eventually want them to get the most out of the headset. And with prices now bordering on extortion, it’s something that the platform holder is going to have to rectify.
Have you managed to grab a pair of PS Move controllers for PSVR? (40 votes)
- Yes, but I already owned them from the PS3 days
- Sure, I managed to nab them at near-retail price
- Yup, but I had to shop second-hand for them
- Nope, I'm still trying to score a couple
- I don't have a PSVR headset
Please login to vote in this poll.
Comments 51
I like despite wanting £623 the person is still charging £3.45 for postage. Hahah bone head. Some people are just crazy. Luckily I have had my move controllers for years.
Yeah I'm glad I kept my PS3 wands, too. The funny thing is, about four or five years ago you probably would have got about 50p for them.
Used-Acceptable, £140 + £4 delivery😂!
I got a pre-owned pair for £18 or so from GAME a week before I got my launch VR unit.
Those profit margins...can’t criticise the hustle, but you’d have to be insane to actually pay that price.
@Fight_Teza_Fight The real problem is that there doesn't appear to be another option at the moment.
When I got my PSVR last year, I only had one wand from the PS3 days, so I had to scour eBay for quite a while before getting lucky and finding a wand for around $60.
What's REALLY annoying is that I have ONE from the days of the ps3 move. Finding one in good nick is damn near impossible.
In the EU there are no taxes between the countries only postage fees, you may find retail shops in other countries that ship to UK (eg. fnac, mediamarkt).
So it is virtually impossible to find them?
@Bioth I see what you did there
These seem to fluctuate quite a lot. I presume whenever there is good deals on PSVR then the demand for the controllers go up so in a couple months time the prices should come down again.
The Move wands are the worst thing which I've ever bought from Sony. I, personally, find that it's strange, that there's a demand for them. Mine are somewhere, in the house, gathering dust. I hate the Move wands with a passion (I call them wands, as I don't think that they have the right to be called controllers), so much so, that I won't buy a PSVR game, anymore, if it's Move wand only.
Luckily i managed to get a pair before xmas on amazon for £80, i have had more trouble finding the aim controller which is suffering the same kind of supply problem and is going for ridiculous prices, i got lucky and found the Firewall bundle from Italy on ebay for £80 which isn't too bad, but Sony really should be doing something to resupply them, after all the black friday deals on the headset itself, it was only natural that people would then want the move/aim controllers not long afterwards.
Got mine free in a bundle from Argos last November
@Hengist Why not?
I see them alot of times at my local Goodwill and other thrift stores. See them at the flea market too
@Tasuki good prices? If so you need to start re selling them at a higher price!
@get2sammyb It sucks, but Sony probably don’t want to produce them standalone. as surely the moves are the first thing to go for PSVR2.
I got mine by walking into a store where I found two super dusty ones laying around. I got them for 15 EUR each.
edit: actually those were the packs that came with the crappy wii sports clone and the PS3 camera.
@Shepherd_Tallon @Hengist I'll give you £20
I'm annoyed I sold my PS3 Move starter pack including one wand when I moved to PS4 ... it sold for £12.77 !!
I should see about getting my one on eBay then. Got the movement one as well, but I doubt that's used with PSVR.
I somehow lost one pair. I had four for the PS3, but really only needed two for the sports game. All we really played was disc golf, but it was a lot of fun! I still have two out of four, but I have no idea where the other two went off to.
They still look like ice cream cones for robots though don't they.
They cost around 75€ on french websites, I don't know if they can ship to UK though.
Wow this is crazy. I'm glad I bought mine when I got my psvr with superhot in a cheap argos bundle. Nearly got wipe out and left the moves for another time. Same thing with the aim. I bought firewall with the aim controller on day 1 in a £50 bundle and now they are in short supply.
I think Sony aren't making many as they are thanking their lucky stars they managed to shift the warehouse full of the ps3 moves and don't want to have a bunch of them lying around when the new controllers come out.
Me: ''Hey look, that's a useful article, I'm actually looking for a pair of Move Controllers!''
Me after reading: ''.....''
There were still a few places that sold them at the regular price when I picked up a pair last year, but they were definitely on the verge of selling out. What I don't understand about the new model theory is that there's no reason for them to stop selling them so far in advance if a new model wouldn't have been announced for (at least) another year. I don't even know when they would announce it if they're skipping E3 and they cancelled last year's PSE.
@Octane Haha, well it's a work in progress. I've contacted Sony to try and find out what's going on, and will update when I know more.
So frustrating not being able to find the move controllers anywhere. I got the mega pack just after Christmas and I know they're not essential for Skyrim or Doom or London Heist BUT I don't want to play these games in VR without them! Same goes for the Aim Controller. Yes I could buy the game separately and play with my DS4 but why should I? I want to be fully immersed in the games and I don't feel like I'm going to get that without these little bits of plastic! I don't know what the issue is with supply or anything else but I'm not paying the Internet prices for these bits especially after getting such a good deal for the hardware itself
@get2sammyb That's good to know! I can't find them anywhere!
I paid $60 for mine about a year ago and I felt ripped off.
I saw a bunch in an antique shop nearby! Should I grab them and upsell them?
The best thing to do is look for people selling PS3 bundles with them included and ask if they will sell separately. After seeing them out of stock everywhere and fetching upwards of £100 on ebay, i checked on gumtree, schpock and Facebook marketplace. I manage to find a pair for £30 about 10 miles away.
I could have got a pair for £25 in wales but the lady said her husband had already sold them.
@manu0 Crappy?
Surely you aren't referring to the 2 far superior Sports Champions titles?
I would have loved if these were ported to PSVR. Too bad the developer was bought by some cruddy mobile game company of sorts.
Crumbs. So glad during that period of my life where i bought basically everything playstation related that i bought a second ps3 with the move starter pack and a second move wand for sports champions. The irony that i hardly used them until vr came out. So glad i didnt sell them when i got ps4. It was tempting but the price was so poor i decided to keep them just in case i ever wanted to play a move game again on ps3. ..although im struggling to think of many games that used them! Definitely got more use out of them for my VR headset.
Good to see ps3 move (sports champions was the shizz) controllers were mainly adopted in ps3 days. I know i had Move. It was Wii but better lol. Shame they are jackin prices like that. With limited availability it tells me psvr2 ans ps5 annoucement late summer 2019😁 with a hopeful 11/15/20 release
The move wands are my favorite control method for psvr games. Lots of games require them too, so I’m very glad I still had 2 laying about.
Bit surprised by how hard these are to find. According to Wikipedia 15 million Move controllers had been shipped as of 2012. Must be a lot of these gathering dust somewhere.
PSVR has sold what 3-4 million? so if everyone of them has two each that's eight million Move controllers needed for PSVR. And how many have Sony made since 2012?
Also, surely they can fulfil demand for an install base of 3 or 4 million. It's the same for the aim controller. Hardly ever in Stock. But the DualShock 4 is always easy enough to pick up and that's catering for an install base of 90+ million.
Finally this is an ongoing issue so it leads me to thinking Sony just don't want to meet demand for the Move, Aim controller and the PSVR headset itself. Very strange.
Well I have mine since ps3 Era.. And bought a second hands vr headset with the motions controller and the
. ̿̿̿. ̿̿̿. ̿̿̿. ̿̿'̿'̵͇̿̿з= ( ▀ ͜͞ʖ▀) =ε/̵͇̿̿/’̿’̿ ̿ ̿̿ ̿̿ ̿̿ for 110 dollar.. ᵔᴥᵔ like 3 month ago. So I am glad!
Stock informer people. Definitely the way to go. Couldn't find stock anywhere but they recently came into stock at Argos and thanks to the stock informer website I was able to order them straight away before they went out of stock again. Check it out (I'm not begin paid to promote them, it's just a great website). I managed to get a SNES classic mini a while back using it.
I got a cheap, brand new double pack last summer when they did the week of deals, just before the World Cup if I remember right. I understand not wanting to produce too many of these thing, but right now, it could actually be putting people off buying PSVR. Some of the best games need these controllers. The PSVR has had such a good year, would be a shame to see the momentum killed off over this.
Around my area, even though they don't have many, you can go to some places (gamestop and even some used stores that carry game items) and pick them up used for about $35. Other than that, for the ones that never owned them on PS3, yeah, this is a big deal. I remember getting the PSVR Batman bundle. The Batman game said it's compatible with them, but here to find out that you NEED them. Luckily I already had 4 for the PS3, so I just moved 2 over to the system, but still...there was a reason for owning 4 on the PS3. Still though, I'm looking to picking up another 2 eventually, but up until then, I can still find the bundle packs in the stores where I'm at, granted that $100 seems a lot for just 2 move wands. Then we go to the Navigational controllers, which run for $3 used around me!!!! Anyways, I'm just hoping for most of the MOVE games from the PS3 era to come to the VR. Would be nice to play Kung Fu Rider, The Shoot, Start The Party, Eye Pet, Sorcery, Medieval Times and Sports Champions with full on VR action!
I paid new prices for a second hand pair just after the PSVR launch and for me, they opened up PSVR into a new realm for some games. SuperHot and Beat Saber just plain out need them.
I got my PlayStation Move Controllers for £69.99 from Argos
@get2sammyb
In my opinion, the Move wands are only useful for titles where you're stationary, and you only move your arms, e.g. Rush of Blood, Archangel, etc.
If the game features walking with the Moves, then they do more harm than good, in terms of immersion. The reason why (for me), is because you'll be constantly dragged out of the game and back into reality, due to the inherent, inaccurate, chunkiness of the button presses, when compared to the precise, accurate movement of the DS4's or Aim's analogue thumb sticks.
@Hengist I prefer them in Sykrim VR, using the DS4 made me feel sick, the movements in Skyrim seem better with the Move controllers, less disorientating.
@Arawnelder Although I prefer the DS4 in Skyrim, just because I dislike the Moves, it doesn't mean that I expect everyone to feel the same way. I'm glad that you're enjoying them.
I bought a pair from Very in June for £ 35.99 thinking they would be new with micro-USB ports but, no, they were mini-USB. My old PS3 ones were the same. Thankfully they were only cheap. Stuck them on ebay for £80 last night and sold them within 10 mins.
As alway with anything in short supply, they're only worth what someone is willing to pay for them. Although there are plenty of greedy people selling them for crazy prices I doubt many people will be daft enough to buy them.
I do own a Vr headset and to be fair it maybe down to my choice of games but I've never felt the need to get any so far.
I could probably get two for free from a friend of mine who bought the controllers during the PS3 era
If someone is looking https://www.nedgame.nl/playstation-4/ps-move-twin-pack--psvr-compatible-/6505779919/
€79,99 for 2 its a Dutch store.
The problem I’m running into is finding a charging station that will charge the NEW psvr move wands, without bricking them eventualy
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