Xbox has filed a patent on a new version of its Series X|S controller that could signal a revised tilt at PlayStation’s DualSense Edge.
What makes us think that? Well, according to patents viewed by GameRant, this still-unproduced idea for a new Xbox controller can store button-layout profiles that can be swapped on the fly.
Those of you that own an Xbox Elite Series 2 controller are raising your eyebrows and saying, “The Elite S2 already does that, though.”
You’re right! It does! But Sony’s version of profile switching in the DualSense Edge created a native solution, where holding down a small toggle beneath the left or right thumbstick opens an on-screen profile menu from which a number of alterations to controls could be made and saved. From there, it was a matter of backing out to your game again. Switching between profiles required holding the same toggle and tapping the face button you’d bound it to. It’s a quick, clean, and most importantly clear system that has been integrated cleverly into the PS5’s existing OS.
Though the Xbox Elite Series 2 controller can store profiles and switch between them easily, it requires going through several dashboard menus to set it up. Further, knowing which profile you’re switching to when you hit the profile button is kind of up to you to remember. It lacks that sense of clarity, the important final step.
Clarity, it seems, is what this potential new controller is taking a run at. Diagrams feature a touchscreen running along the upper part of the controller’s face, where the Start, Back and Xbox buttons currently sit. Those buttons are moved down to sit between the two control sticks, which appear to have been moved slightly further apart to accommodate. The touchscreen diagram features a concept menu where users can swap controller profiles, track their performance, and access audio and social media features.
This is, of course, far from the only new controller concept that Xbox has patented in the last few years. Corporations want to lock up all their ideas, whether they’re planning to move forward on them or not. Only sometimes is it about actually getting a new unit out the door. More often than not, it’s about controlling potentialities.
But it is interesting to see Xbox making these moves. If a controller like this was to ever find its way to market, it would surely be as a third iteration of the Xbox Elite controller. For now, it’s an illuminating look at how corporations use patents as a kind of vault they can keep their sketches in.
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