Microsoft “totally underestimated” demand for Xbox One Elite Controller

The Xbox One Elite Controller has been a huge success for Microsoft and has been hugely popular with gamers and as a result, has been selling like hotcakes. Unfortunately, Microsoft “totally underestimated” the demand for the Xbox One Elite Controller which is rather hard to get hold of these days as not enough are being produced to meet demand.

Speaking on the latest episode of Windows Weekly, Microsoft CMO Chris Capossela revealed that Microsoft initially wanted to produce more of the Xbox One Elite Controllers, which cost $150, however the feedback they received from gamers at E3 was that the price tag was too expensive so reduced the number of controllers produced as they didn’t expect them to prove so popular at that price point.

“If I could have built 10 times the number I built, I would have”, said Capossela about the Xbox One Elite Controller. “We got that feedback at E3 that it was awesome, but maybe the price was a little too high, and so that influenced how many we produced.”

He added,”On the Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving, myself and Kevin Turner our COO, and the guy who runs our stores, David Porter, we go around and visit 30 or 40 different stores, Best Buy and GameStop and AT&T and Verizon and Microsoft Stores, just to see how things look, and the one thing we heard from everybody was, ‘You needed to make way more of these controllers.'”

Head of Xbox Phil Spencer has also stated that every time stores receive new stock of Elite controllers, they sell out instantly. Most stores in the US appear to be sold out while Argos and Amazon are sold out of the controllers at the time of speaking in the UK.

The Xbox One Elite Controller has proven so popular due to it allowing players to customise their controller buttons and thumb sticks as well as featuring a rubber-grip.

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5 comments

Barry Harden December 29, 2015 at 20:00

Several problems. Unfortunately most gaming pro’s have moved on to the PS4 since there’s a bigger install base which is more attractive to gaming leagues. It’s also a technically better console and one that does NOT require an active connection to servers in order to play on Local LAN.

Some gaming pro’s have also complained about the Elite one’s controller paddles that are way too easy to engage. Not something you want in the heat of the moment.

Bobby Griffin December 29, 2015 at 20:14

Are you serious. Everything you said is very wrong. The ps4 sells are mostly casual users from the wii hence their attach rate per console. I have both but play all multilayer on xbox one because of the better controller and superior online. My Playstation only has remakes and indies hence the casual crowd. The indies on ps4 out sells their only AAA exclusives last year Bloodborne hence the casual crowd. All pro players use the xbox or p.c

Barry Harden December 29, 2015 at 20:49

You’re the delusional one here. Were you living under a rock when Activision moved their tournaments to PS4 for Call of Duty?
You do know most games that come out on PS4 are at a Higher resolution than the XBone version? Most pro’s don’t want to game on an inferior system.

Just look at how bad the graphics are for Halo 5: http://gifyu.com/images/Halo560.png

The “superior” online for XBL as you put it couldn’t be more wrong.

This is the reason why you shouldn’t hold professional gaming tournaments on XBone’s:
http://www.gamerevolution.com/news/halo-the-master-chief-collections-esport-showing-this-weekend-was-a-technical-disaster-34045

All these problems are reasons why pro’s don’t want to deal with this. Let’s face it, only casual enthusiasts will want to play on XBone. Real pro’s will play on PS4 and will get a Scuf controller for their needs.

andy December 31, 2015 at 15:40

Guess they should have made more than 50 of them. Simple as that.

andy December 31, 2015 at 15:40

Guess they should have made more than 50 of them. Simple as that.

Comments are closed.