New Xbox for 2024! New hybrid Xbox for 2028! But can we appreciate Microsoft’s leaked Sebile controller for a second?
The $70 pad could arrive in 2024 packed with the best features of Sony’s DualSense, Valve’s Steam Controller, Google Stadia, and – here’s hoping – 8BitDo.
It apparently takes the “accurate haptic feedback” of the Sony DualSense.
Well, here’s hope! This is the thing I’m most excited about because it seriously adds a new dimension to some of Sony’s games, which aren’t the same when you take them out.
Check out our DualSense X-ray below, versus this one on an Xbox pad, to see the difference in their haptic motors:
Note that some controllers ship with “accuracy” or “HD haptics” without effect, even though they technically feature linear actuators instead of old-school eccentric spinning weights. ours is like Xbox gamepads today. The Steam Controller has great haptics, and the Nintendo Switch haptics aren’t DualSense-level…
What’s so great about the Steam Controller, then?
Would you believe that Microsoft’s “haptics double as speakers” is already done? This always makes me LOL:
The Steam Controller can actually do that. Heck, your iPhone’s Taptic Engine can technically do it too.
But I also hope that Microsoft puts a gyroscope in this case, not just an accelerometer, so we can have the same gyro aim revolution that I experienced in my Steam Deck and with Zelda on the Switch. it very good for aiming arrows.
What good can be done from Google’s Stadia controller?
This is why Sebile is so big. Microsoft internally positions it as the first “Universal Wireless Controller,” in theory capable of controlling the Xbox across consoles, mobile, PC, and the cloud.
The controller can do that because it connects directly to the cloud, the documents show, in addition to Bluetooth and Xbox Wireless. Google Stadia pioneered direct to the cloud by connecting the controller directly to your home Wi-Fi, and it allowed me to seamlessly move between playing a game on my PC, TV, and phone. Here’s something I wrote in 2019 about Stadia and Fate 2:
I fired up a TV session with the Stadia Controller while we were just shooting little minions, switched to a desktop with a mouse and keyboard when I needed better aim for a boss fight, and smooth that continued the game on a smartphone before walking down. in the hall to get a snack — all while playing with a partner 5,000-plus miles away in London – without any major obstacles.
Amazon’s Luna controller also has a direct connection to the cloud, but … no one is talking about Luna anymore.
Okay, I’m reading between the lines here it’s too much and I was ready to despair, but Sebile had three pleasant ideas that caught my eye:
- A “rechargeable and swappable battery”
- “New modular thumbsticks” with “improved longevity”
- “Seamless Pair & Switch” on multiple paired devices
First, Sony fans and Xbox fans have long argued about the merits of Sony’s short-lived but rechargeable internal lithium-ion pack versus Microsoft’s slot for standard AA batteries. …
Yes, you are looking at a 2x AA-Area rechargeable battery pack that can stay inside your 8BitDo controller, charging over its USB-C port – and if it runs out mid-session, AA batteries are fine too.
Second, many of the 8BitDo controllers have a smooth sliding switch on the back that allows you to switch between four paired Bluetooth devices – one click to go from Nintendo Switch to iPhone or PC. Looks like Microsoft can do that with an app, though.
Third, while 8BitDo’s Ultimate Bluetooth Controller is sad not with that style of battery or that four position, it DOING comes with Gulikit Hall effect sensor joysticks that supposedly eliminate stick drift — at a time when Sony and Microsoft use the same exact drift-prone joysticks.
Lift-to-wake presence detection can be a big deal for battery life! former Polygon editor-in-chief (and current publisher) Chris Grant told me Xbox One controllers seem to last forever if you have a Microsoft Kinect set up – because the camera manages the presence of the presence role.
How likely is either of these?
Leaked Microsoft documents show that Sebile is not a pie-in-the-sky project – it is already funded in May 2022. The leaked slide deck suggests that it THE new Xbox controller, set to arrive in May 2024 for $70 and bundled with every new Xbox sold starting next fall.
This isn’t the only new controller in discussions, with another version codenamed “Igraine,” a new Elite controller called “Actium,” and a new luxury controller that called “Zarasai.”
But the last two have not yet achieved internal funding, and Microsoft’s internal documents also warn that “Sebile’s full product vision” is “not currently approved,” which puts the scenario where a pared-down controller is shipped.
By the way, Sebile and Igraine will supposedly ship with a pack-in accessory called “Bonnie” or “Bonnie Pro.” Is that the name of the rechargeable battery? A carrying case? An interchangeable stick or stick topper? Your guess is as good as ours.
