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6 things you can connect to the USB port on your PlayStation 5
The PlayStation 5 is a beast of a console, no doubt, and as much as I love my fat PS5, I do have a major gripe with it about its USB ports. With just three accessible ones on the front and back, there is very little that gets you in the long run.
I might have my fair share of complaints over four years of ownership, but I've also discovered just how many amazing peripherals you can plug into your PS5's USB ports. Some might be very obvious, sure, but some are downright game-changing.
A USB hub is the first thing any PlayStation 5 user needs
This is the ultimate game-changer you need
Inarguably my favorite thing to plug into my PlayStation 5, a USB Hub is a multi-faceted solution to the problem posed by the terrible lack of USB ports on the console. I may not need it when I'm home, but out of the three months I spend traveling each year, this hub comes in extremely handy when I need to plug a mouse and keyboard into the PS5 to continue playing shooters like Fortnite and Warzonewith my friends. After all, I'm not missing out on three whole months of gaming just because I didn't want to lug around a full-size PC tower along with me on a flight. Between a keyboard-mouse combo and the headset's 2.4 GHz dongle, I'd be out of ports on the console if not for the hub.
Outside of a keyboard-mouse combo, however, there's a plethora of other peripherals a USB hub can come in handy for. If you're charging a controller or need to keep one plugged in, you're going to realize how quickly you're running out of ports on the PlayStation 5, and that's when a USB 3.2 splitter comes in as a godsent.
External HDD for storage, recording, and more
Store games, download recordings, or backup your entire PlayStation 5
It's great that the PlayStation 5 allows us to add more storage via NVMe by taking off a single screw, but that doesn't mean there's any reason to get rid of that old My Passport HDD just yet. My 1 TB external HDD is one peripheral I never lose sight of while traveling or reviewing PS5 games, since it allows me to take screenshots and record gameplay clips with reckless abandon.
At the end of each gaming session, all it takes is a minute to offload gigabytes worth of gameplay recordings on to an external HDD. Moreover, it even lets me play my PS4 games straight from it, without ever using a single megabyte on the PS5's SSD. For current-gen PS5 games, however, an external HDD can still come in handy if you're not up for downloading games constantly. Just download it once, transfer it onto your external HDD, and whenever you feel like playing it next time, transfer it back on to the PS5's SSD to get gaming, without the need for a network connection to download the game all over again.
VR essentials: PSVR and its camera
This one takes up the USB as well as the HDMI port
Both the PSVR and PSVR2 are connected to the PlayStation 5 console via USB. While the PSVR 1 can still only play PS4-compatible virtual-reality games, it's still proving pretty handy for players who didn't get a PSVR2, because the latter isn't backwards-compatible at all (go figure).
Of course, if you're going to be using a first-gen PSVR camera on the PlayStation 5, an extra USB port is going to go towards its adapter, which, up until last year, was free. Without it, you're not getting anything running on the PSVR 1. If you still boot up Astro Bot Rescue Mission or Skyrim VR once in a while, you'd be grateful that Sony didn't completely forget about early adopters. But make no mistake — if you've got either generation of PSVR hardware lying around, you're going to be doing a lot of plugging and unplugging. USB hub to the rescue, once again.
USB headsets for when you need to switch from PC
It's either going to be the dongle or the USB cable, but it'll always work
Now, I myself use a Sony Inzone H7 headset while gaming on the PlayStation 5, which is a wireless pair of headphones that comes with its own 2.4 GHz dongle to plug into the PS5's USB port (thank god for the USB splitter). Still, on the days I forget to keep it juiced up, I can always just keep the headset going for longer sessions by keeping it charging while I use it.
It takes two USB ports, sure, but with a splitter, things become a lot easier to handle. For non-wireless players, too, a USB-A headset makes perfect sense if they're going to be switching between PC and PS5 occasionally, since one headset alone would fit both platforms.
Heavy-end peripherals need just the PS5's USB port
Racing wheels, fight sticks, and so much more
If you've ever tried to go back to using a regular DualSense after playing Gran Turismo 7 with a full-blown racing wheel setup, I feel for you, I really do. This is the one thing I don't have yet since I can never justify the purchase, but it doesn't stop me from hailing a cab every Sunday morning over to a friend's place to wake him up and use his Logitech G29. If it's an officially licensed model, racing wheels connect to the PlayStation via USB and are almost always plug-and-play.
Wheels, however, are only the start. The USB ports on the PS5 open the door to a whole world of niche peripherals tailor-made for the console. Be it fight sticks for the Street Fighter and Tekken crowd, HOTAS setups for games like Ace Combat or Elite Dangerous, or arcade-style controllers that make retro compilations hit the right spot, you can pretty much plug in any high-end peripheral into the PS5.
Sure, they're not for everyone. I myself am never going to be caught dead with a fight stick, but that's beside the point. The point is — if you're serious about a genre, there's a peripheral out there that will elevate the experience dramatically on the PS5. All you have to make sure is that you've got the desk space and enough ports to make it all come together.
Bonus utilities that are always appreciated
At the end of the day, it is a USB port, after all
Not every USB peripheral plugged into your PS5 is about playing games. Some can just be about sharing and recording. Content creators who want to document the occasional Marvel Rivals clutch can just go plug in a capture card from Elgato via USB. Stream your PS5 footage straight to your PC, and all it asks of your console is a single USB port.
Microphones are next as another handy addition, especially if you like streaming or chatting in parties with crisper audio because that DualSense in-built microphone? Yikes. I've only had the opportunity to rest a Razer Seiren X on my PS5, and it worked instantly through the USB port, and delivered fantastic quality.
And then there's the most basic use of all, something I do constantly — charging my phone. When I'm way too lazy to move, the PS5's USB C-type port at the front is the unsung hero of my phone charging routine.
There's very little that doesn't work with a PlayStation 5's USB ports
Your USB arsenal might turn out to be a game-changer next time you're thinking about upgrades.
Sony may not have been very generous with USB ports on the PS5, but you'd be amazed how far a little creativity (and a USB splitter) can take you.
There's pretty much anything you can do or achieve when it comes to the game of your choice on the PS5, since there's always going to be a USB-powered peripheral for it. Next time you're thinking about nice upgrades to make to your gaming platforms, check your USB arsenal. It might turn out to be the game-changer.
