In what is perhaps one of the weirdest brand crossovers we’ve ever seen, you can now buy an official Yorkshire Tea branded Xbox or PS5 controller. Yes, really. Born and raised in Yorkshire mesen – and a seasoned tea-drinker to boot (naturally) I absolutely want one of these beauties. But the Yorkshire in me means I took one look at the £150 price tag and exclaimed, “…’ow much?!”
But oh, they are things of beauty. Yorkshire Tea has joined forces with POPeART in creating these controllers – which are official DualSense and Xbox controllers with a custom skin. According to the product listings, the whole thing came about from a mock-up that POPeART tweeted at Yorkshire Tea; they liked it so much that it’s become a reality.
The controllers are listed as “limited edition”, but I’m not sure how limited these are. There’s no mention of production numbers in the listings that I can see. It’s likely they’re going to be rather rare, and so if you do feel like splurging £150 on a standard controller, I’d recommend jumping on one pronto. You know, before they pop up on eBay for four times the price.
I should add that Yorkshire Tea addressed the price on Twitter, saying “sorry they’re not cheaper!”. According to the Tweet, the company isn’t making any money on them. It could be true: due to it being a small production run, it’s likely not a cheap process.
The Xbox and DualSense version of the Yorkshire Tea controllers have slightly different designs. The Xbox has pictures of fields on the left-hand side – you know, that iconic Yorkshire Tea packaging. The right-hand side has a teapot silhouette in red, emblazoned with the ‘Yorkshire Tea’ logo.
The DualSense controller, on the other hand, has the Yorkshire Tea fields on both sides of the controller. The touchpad is red with the Yorkshire Tea logo, and the central part of the controller remains white. Both look seriously superb – in a weird, quirky, “why does this even exist” kind of way.
If you fancy one, they’re available now from Yorkshire Tea’s official ‘Little Shop of Proper’ online storefront.
*I feel I should add, as a Yorkshireperson, I have never, ever once heard someone unironically say “ee by gum”. Similarly, we don’t all wear flat caps and own whippets. Sorry.
