You may have read my review of the Xbox Elite Series 2 controller, which remains impressive but is quickly showing its age and becoming less impressive each day its asking price continues to be $180. With the so-called next-gen consoles already current-gen, their associated controllers were always going to be the new default. This was why I had asked Microsoft to send one of the newer Xbox wireless controllers soon after for a deep dive.

Knowing that there were five default color options to choose from already makes this a more fun and customizable controller, and then Xbox Design Lab comes in with far more options to finally make a first-party controller be your own. In the absence of someone like SCUF putting out the newer controllers under their own design language as of the time of this review, Xbox is allowing more than what we got just a few years ago. There are some functional updates too, all of which I personally think are great. Some are simple enough, including the use of Type-C connectivity instead of micro-USB, and keeping power in the form of AA batteries for wireless connectivity helps keep costs low. Others, such as the dedicated share button and faceted D-pad will be more divisive—I personally could not care less about the share button, but it is absolutely critical to have on the controller for many who will use it daily. On the flip side, I think the new D-pad is fantastic now for easier eight-way directions, but it is clickier and louder than before, which the new face buttons are as well.

The form factor has been tweaked too, with a slightly smaller footprint making it more comfortable to hold on to. The gripped back surface complements this further, so much so that the net weight of 280 g with batteries is a very nice wireless experience. You will need to supply your own cable for wired connectivity, or get the optional adapter for 2.4 GHz connectivity if you want lower wireless latency. This does add more to the cost, although there is a bundled combo of the black controller with the adapter for $80. Unfortunately, the two bought separately will cost $75 at the moment owing to the black controller currently being on sale for $50. This is a very good example of what Microsoft, and Xbox in particular, needs to work on—there is poor follow-up and attention to detail in some critical cases.

The Xbox Accessories app is another such example. I love the easy customization options, especially with function mapping for every possible click on the controller. Getting to these options is what gets my goat, especially for someone who would just want to use this controller for non-Xbox games on Windows. The Windows store needs a complete re-design for consistency, and timely updates/patches, but I suspect my biggest issues with the pervasive permissions and tracking won't change. Needing an Xbox account as DRM for customization is no worse than a keyboard company forcing you to create an account to use its software, so why is it alright for Microsoft to do so for a paid product only to then provide a sub-par experience at that?

Ultimately, there are enough improvements compared to before and plenty of customization options in both function and form to where the new Xbox wireless controller is a very good buy at $50 for the black version, and the slight increase for more colors is worth it for those who like it. I do wish there were some options with adaptive triggers as with the PlayStation DualSense coming up, and it does appear that an upcoming revision to this or perhaps the Elite Series will adopt something similar. Xbox is no stranger to having controller revisions over the course of a console cycle, but until then, the current wireless controller will hold down the fort really well.