By the end of October, we will get the new Xbox Elite Controller. Introducing control hardware customization, is this the first step in a future of controllers that adapt to their players, and not vice-versa?

 

The new Xbox Elite Controller made a shock when it was announced: its slick and elegant, the overall quality of the Xbox controller improved (ex: sticks that won’t wear down by use), but a new element was added to the console controllers world – for the first time, changing buttons and sticks was just a matter of detaching them to fit whatever suits you best.

 

 

Not only are the main components now interchangeable without the need of tools (so you won’t have to find a new controller or take it to a shop when something breaks), but as the 6 back-paddles demonstrate, magnetically attaching components is now a thing.

 

 

This is especially important, as the use of a magnetic surface to connect the parts could escalate to the whole controller in the future – that means, for now we have swappable parts, but the freedom of having the whole surface at your disposal to accommodate your controller to whatever really suits you is a future possibility (maybe even a controller that can change its whole shape?).

 

However, keeping the feet on ground, we still have something to look forward in the meantime: Mike Ybarra (Director of Program Management for Xbox) has said the technology behind the elite controller will extend to all Xbox controllers eventually.

 

https://twitter.com/XboxQwik/status/650674400786694144?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

 

No word yet on when, but it seems it’s an initiative Microsoft plans on keeping. With a 150$ tag, however, the Elite Controller is still more a luxury than anything, so it might be a long time until the technology becomes affordable enough to become the new standard.