Vitrix Pro Fightstick review: You'll have to drag my dead body back to the PS5 pad

Ever since I’ve been playing video games, I’ve been playing them on a pad. The lovable Xbox 360 pad. The brilliant PS4 pad. These days, the bulky and boisterous PS5 pad. I have never owned an arcade stick. This was not for lack of want – an arcade stick even today is a sign of gaming prestige as a Ferrari is for driving. Imagine my shock when earlier this year this all changed with the Vitrix Pro FS. In my late 20’s, without kids nor mortgage, an ever-expanding waistline and ever-receding hairline, I am in theory the ideal market for such a product. It felt natural on my lap.

Vitrix is the esports / competitive branding of Performance Designed Products, or PDP. While the company has various lines aimed towards different types of gaming enthusiasts, Vitrix is unabashedly targeted towards those who value high performance, high skill, and perhaps even professional play. At Evo earlier this month – Vitrix had a big booth, and you could see people wearing sponsored jerseys walk around with Vitrix sticks. Vitrix sticks are the current king of the competitive scene. This makes them inherently desirable for the aspirational and esports inspired. But how good are they for you, the impassioned gamer?

Before I jump into the various features of this stick, I’d like to note that this product is clearly targeted towards fighting games, rather than other arcade games. It obviously can be used by retro-heads looking for a nasty Pacman session, and it’ll probably be dead handy, but this stick is clearly built for playing fighting games both at home and abroad. If you want a retro game stick you could buy a Vitrix Pro, but you could probably save a lot of money and get a more appropriate product elsewhere.