Phil Spencer Talks New Xbox One Elite Controller - The UpStream

One of the big announcements at Microsoft's E3 presentation was a new Xbox One controller. While the price is a little steep, it does bring to the table a pretty incredible feature set. But outside of a few display units, there wasn't much more information on the device in the post-conference panels and news releases. That is until Phil Spencer went into more detail about the new gaming pad in an interview about the future of Xbox.

In the most recent edition of Edge magazine, the Xbox head took some time to address the criticism and glory behind the new controller. He also explained who the hardware specifically targets, along with how the community had input in the design.

Spencer was asked if the design was an internal project or something driven by the community. He responded by saying,

Definitely from the community. There's a lot of innovation that happens in the controller space - people want more customisation when they're at the higher end, and they want to be able to make it their controller. Whereas for me I take the default setup that I've learned. But you think about your eSport pro gaming, which is a very, very strong growth category: those people - a growing segment of our population - really care about making the controller feel exactly the way they want it to feel.

So the controller is targeted at pro gamers who not only take their gaming more seriously, but require a bit more customizability and durability in their peripherals. Does this mean that the regular Xbox controller is gone? Contrary to what the majority of the Internet believes, no. If you'll recall, Microsoft also announced an improved Xbox One controller which (thankfully) brings back the 3.5mm audio jack and improves the bumpers.

I think that controller, especially with some of the recent modifications we made with the audio jack and the shoulder buttons, is the best controller, obviously, that we've made up until the point the Elite controller comes out. We look at the Elite controller as being for somebody who feels they're an elite competitive gamer, and that's great for them, but we'll continue to be very supportive of our Xbox One controller. It's what a vast majority of our gamers will be playing (for the) life of the console.

While I may not be a "pro gamer," I definitely want to pick up the Elite controller and use it in my every day gamer, and a lot of the Xbox community has chimed in with the same feelings about the new accessory. And if that's not for you and you're in the market for an additional controller, the revamped standard one is perfect for you. This gives the Xbox One some more diversity and really does appeal to several different markets now.