Home Gaming It took 200 prototypes to create the Xbox One controller

It took 200 prototypes to create the Xbox One controller

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XB1 Controller

Asking me which console to recommend these days is the equivalent of quizzing me as to which testicle I’d like to keep in a life or death situation. I love all three two of very much you see. What I will admit however, is that the Xbox One has a superior controller in my humble opinion. Sure, the PS4 controller may have more features, but they’re barely used and the damn thing has the battery lifespan of a Mayfly which has gotten rather drunk and hasn’t buckled its seatbelt on before driving off. But to make the Xbox One controller, the design team behind it went through tons of design iterations.

Speaking to MCV, design lead Carl Ledbetter explained that the process behind creating the actual Xbox One and controller was a three year process. Testing the controller with 1100 consumers over 500 hours resulted in the final look and feel of the input device. “Nobody says anything about the little things on the hardware,” Ledbetter said.

If somebody is using the controller and after 30 minutes is saying ‘my hands are starting to hurt.’ then that’s a fail. But if after 30 minutes all they’re thinking about is the game, then we’re doing OK. An example of something we got wrong was the first Xbox controller,” admits Ledbetter. “It worked, but it wasn’t the right size for people. For the Xbox One, there has been a bunch of things that, I don’t know if they were wrong, but they weren’t appropriate or they weren’t the ideal solution. Usually, we do enough testing that it wouldn’t go out the door if it wasn’t right.

All of this testing and design, resulted in over 200 prototypes before the final controller was chosen. And what a controller it is. I quite dig it, thanks to those vibrations in the trigger and redesign that shifted parts around, even if I struggled to insert my headset for god knows what reason that resulted in me actually breaking that jack in my input device. But the less said about that, the better.

In terms of size, it’s also pretty comfy. It fits well in my child hands, and in the massively dangerous hamfists of my own father, even he dug playing some Forza Horizon 2 with it. Hell, I even use the controller for PC games, because it works so well.

Last Updated: November 26, 2014

47 Comments

  1. 200 problems and a controller is all of them. BADUMTSH

    *crickets chirping*

    Reply

  2. Hammersteyn

    November 26, 2014 at 08:47

    200 prototypes and they keep the layout of the 360 controller? Money well spent.

    Reply

    • Victor "Vicky" Moolman

      November 26, 2014 at 09:11

      “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” – every father/old man/boss ever.

      Reply

    • Skyblue

      November 26, 2014 at 15:47

      The X360 and Xbone controllers are both far superior to any controller Sony has ever designed since the original Dual Shock controller. That was a work of art in it’s day but M$ have refined their controllers and once you use them you don’t want to use anything else.

      That said, the PS4 controller is supremely comfortable for long periods of play and is a great controller even if it feels a bit flimsy with those tiny triggers.

      Reply

    • elite

      November 27, 2014 at 11:28

      are U dumb or what? Is the ps4 layout different?! Ooh yeah right they tried to copy the 360’s controller triggers

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        November 27, 2014 at 11:33

        Yes I R dumb

        Reply

  3. Ryanza

    November 26, 2014 at 08:49

    I like the Xbox 360 controller and the Xbox controller. The Xbox One controller I don’t like. It looks so bland. The Xbox One controller has no soul, no heart, just like that Xbox One console.

    I’m waiting to see if any custom controller will make me love it but so far, nope.

    Reply

    • Ryanza

      November 26, 2014 at 08:49

    • SojournZA

      November 26, 2014 at 08:59

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      Reply

      • Ryanza

        November 26, 2014 at 09:01

      • Ryanza

        November 26, 2014 at 09:06

        This is why it’s not worth commenting my stupid anymore.

        Reply

        • Ryanza

          November 26, 2014 at 09:37

          My stupid shit comments.

          Anyway. I guess the best thing to do and the best way to please everyone, is to just not say anything.

          I don’t like the Xbox One controller. What can I say. I thought that point of view can be represented on here. But saying nothing is the better point of view on here.

          Reply

    • CypherGate

      November 26, 2014 at 09:37

      I again like the new look. Looks fresh and higher quality than previous controllers. Im also not a big fan of custom controllers though. Most look too outrageous.

      Reply

    • Darren Peach

      November 26, 2014 at 09:46

      The trigger vibration is cool. But when you have a controler that talks to you and is sensual, I know what you mean.

      Reply

      • Ryanza

        November 26, 2014 at 09:50

        To me vibrating triggers means less finesse and precision. So the vibrating triggers is the second worst thing about the Xbox One controller.

        Reply

    • Guild

      November 26, 2014 at 10:18

      I’m not too bothered about the asthetics of the controller. It comes in last on my list when using a controller. As long as it fits comfortable, makes sense and does the job I’m happy. After using the Xbox One controller, I do prefer it over the PS4 controller. You looking for something like this?

      Reply

  4. Francois Knoetze

    November 26, 2014 at 08:58

    Don’t mean to be an ass now but isn’t this old news? the controller variations/versions actually had its own documentary filmed by microsoft. some guy interviewed them. was just before the Xbox One’s release

    Reply

    • SojournZA

      November 26, 2014 at 09:03

      Yeh was thinking the same thing, I also see a new article on the webz talking about why they made the console big, feels like regurgitated news today

      Reply

      • Francois Knoetze

        November 26, 2014 at 09:06

        Correction I saw it in a wired interview
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCTrpSFksqU

        But yes this is old news. same with the console. i watched every conference,tech meeting etc before both the One and the PS4 was launched. reasons for their designs etc. and now these articles pop back up again. very weird or there really isn’t new news.

        but hey maybe some folks don’t know and thus the article…

        Reply

  5. FruitFLY

    November 26, 2014 at 09:17

    If you say:”I love all three two of very much” is that your testicles or the new gen consoles?

    Reply

  6. Xcalibersa

    November 26, 2014 at 09:25

    The triggers are still horrible, and makes its horrible to use.

    Reply

    • Ozzh3D

      November 26, 2014 at 11:36

      For me, the shoulders are horrible. I borrowed my friend’s controller to try it with Dark Souls as my X360 controller is getting a bit long in the tooth. In DS your shoulder buttons are shield and weapon, so you use them all the time. Super disappointed by those shoulders because in your natural hand position, you can’t push them down, and when you claw grip them, you get hand cramps. This was especially bad because literally everything else about that controller is MUCH better. How did 1100 people not see this?

      Reply

      • Skyblue

        November 26, 2014 at 15:55

        The shoulders have more resistance than the X360 controllers. I actually prefer the audible click you get and there is never any accidental button pressing as you use far more pressure on the shoulder than the trigger. Personal choice I guess.

        Reply

    • Skyblue

      November 26, 2014 at 15:53

      No clue what you are talking about.

      Reply

  7. Fnuik

    November 26, 2014 at 09:30

    The battery life of my ps4 controller have never worried me, but I guess its because I never have time to play more than 3 hours at a time.

    Reply

  8. RinceThis

    November 26, 2014 at 09:32

    Only used the controller once but loved it instantly.

    Reply

  9. FoxOneZA

    November 26, 2014 at 09:40

    The triggers are the best their is whilst the Xbox 360 controller had the best triggers of last generation. The amount of finite control the rumble triggers offer makes it so easy to dart around with a race car in Forza for hours with assists turned off.

    Reply

  10. Darren Peach

    November 26, 2014 at 09:41

    Anyone remember when the 360 came out, They had that hipster looking dude who could easily be mistaken for Moby who featured in videos talking about the trendy design of the 360 ? I wonder what happened to him cause this new thing looks like a beta max from the eighties.

    Reply

  11. z1n

    November 26, 2014 at 09:51

    30 minutes isn’t much of a test. I guess it’s geared more for casual “sit down and play a little” gamers as opposed to a 4 hour marathon of Forza. I had serious problems with my left thumb after more than an hour with the xbox controller. The PS controller never gave an issue, my left thumb is in a much more natural position. I also much prefer having symmetry between the way I rest my hands on the controllers. Ergonomically I feel the PS controller is superior. I will say one thing though, because of the vertical nature of the left thumb on the xbox controller it’s better for FPS games as you can easily flick left or right. For me this gave slightly less accuracy but with auto aim it’s not a problem. HOWEVER. I HATE PLAYING FPS ON A CONSOLE. It just doesn’t make sense if you have a PC (to me at least).
    TL;DR: If you like FPS on console, Xbox is fine (I say this begrudgingly). PS takes the cake on playing racing games for a heck of a long time.

    Reply

  12. z1n

    November 26, 2014 at 09:53

    Xbone controller tested for 500hours between 1100 people over 3 years. Doesn’t seem like much considering I have more than 5 times the amount played in [enter best MOBA here] over the past 2 years.

    Reply

  13. Mark Vincer

    November 26, 2014 at 10:41

    It’s weird how quotation marks can make anything dirty (especially on this site). Case in point: “breaking that jack in my input device.”

    Reply

  14. Tbone187

    November 26, 2014 at 11:56

    Playstation controllers have been kak since the PSone imo. Terrible design that they decided to stick with over the years for some reason. Xbox controllers have always been better and the swapped analogue is genius.Sony should suck it up and just do the same. It makes sense.

    Reply

    • Skyblue

      November 26, 2014 at 15:52

      I agree but the original Dual Shock controller for the PS was revolutionary in it’s day and introduced force feedback controllers (console) to the masses. I doubt Sony will never change their iconic controller layout but there are 3rd party alternatives.

      Reply

      • Gamer

        December 3, 2014 at 14:26

        The dual shock controller didn’t introduce force feedback. The Nintendo 64 controller did with the rumble pack bundled with Star Fox 64

        Reply

        • Skyblue

          December 3, 2014 at 14:55

          I am fully aware that Nintendo introduced it to the market first hence my comment about “the masses”

          Reply

          • Gamer

            December 4, 2014 at 01:34

            Ah I see. Didn’t catch the part about the masses. Sorry about that.

          • Skyblue

            December 4, 2014 at 07:09

            No worries 🙂

  15. L337J1MB0B

    November 26, 2014 at 13:35

    The Xbox One has a really nice controller sure, but all this proves is just how meaningless controllers really are, seeing as most gamers have basically completely ignored it when making their next gen console purchases. Gamers will play on whatever controller they are required to use… it is simply a means to an end.

    Reply

    • ItIsI

      November 26, 2014 at 16:06

      On the contrary, mine was Purely based on the games and the controller, the UI and actual functionality of the console came second of wasn’t even an option. the ONLY gripe i have with the Xbox controller is the amount of effort needed to unplug that damn headset! BUT i am jealous of that little speaker on the PS4’s controller 😛

      Reply

  16. Ross Woofels Mason

    November 27, 2014 at 10:27

    The controller works really well but It’s uncomfortable as hell for people wit large hands and long fingers. When playing killer instinct at my friends after about 20 – 30 minutes my hands really start hurting because I’ve got to hold the thing in such an awkward angle.

    Fair enough the only game i’ve had a lot of time with on the console is Killer Instinct so cant talk about slower paced games where you can loosen your grip but yea, I hope like hell someone comes out with an accessory to improve the grip for us with large hands.

    Reply

  17. Timothy Zhu

    November 28, 2014 at 15:25

    Please Microsoft will you make it wirelessly compatible with PCs.

    Reply

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