Sony Stops McDonald’s From Giving Away McDonald’s-Themed PS5 Controllers

Recently, McDonald’s Australia revealed that it would give away Sony PlayStation 5 (PS5) DualSense controllers with custom skins featuring the fast-food company as a way to celebrate its 50th anniversary. But a big problem stood in its way: the restaurant chain failed to get Sony’s approval before it created the custom controller.

Credit: McDonald’s Australia

Consequently, the establishment cannot provide fans with those gaming devices as a part of its "stream week" promo. In a statement, McDonald’s Australia announced that it will reschedule the event.

"Unfortunately, McDonald’s stream week has been postponed and won’t be going ahead this Sunday. We are unable to confirm a new date for the proposed event at this time. We will have some great prizing including Macca’s 50th Birthday Hoodies and 50 channel subscriptions for each streamer to give away. We will be in contact with the new timing as soon as we have it confirmed," wrote the fast-food business.

McDonald’s Australia also lamented the trouble it brought onto customers.

"Sony PlayStation has not authorised the use of its controller in promotional materials related to the proposed Stream Week event and we apologise for any inconvenience caused. McDonald’s stream week has been postponed and Sony PlayStation controllers will not be included in the giveaway."

Credit: McDonald’s Australia

The restaurant chain planned on gifting 50 limited edition PS5 controllers to customers who will watch at least one of its gaming streams during "Stream Week". Twitch personalities like Muselk, Jacko G, X2Twins, Cripsy, Kiki, Crayator and Aidek AK were supposed to host the streams. They were going to play the following games: Overwatch, Minecraft, Mario Kart, World of Warcraft, FIFA21 and Night in the Woods.

According to TechRadar, Sony's response to the McDonald’s Australia promo was foreseeable as the tech company heavily guards its intellectual property. Last year, Sony stopped the manufacturing of custom PS5 faceplates that a third party intended to sell. Despite such moves, the custom skin maker Dbrand did not receive any legal complaints from Sony for selling black PS5 faceplates.

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Written by Sophia Lopez