With Earth Day happening later this month, Xbox has an aptly themed new controller launching that is made out of sustainable components including recovered plastics and reclaimed materials.
The new controller has one-third of its components made with post-consumer recycled resins with regrind using previously moulded colour parts to create the earth-tone colours shown.
Microsoft says regrind is a process of “mechanically recycling leftover Xbox One generation controller parts into a raw material that can be used to partially create new controllers,” leading to maintained durability and performance. The same controller uses recycled resins from reclaimed materials like automotive headlight coves, plastic water jugs, and CDs (remember those?).
Xbox is also including a Rechargeable Battery Pack to use less plastic and reduce waste — getting rid of consumable batteries makes perfect sense. The included Rechargeable Battery Pack is charged in four hours and holds a 30-hour battery life per charge and connects via USB-C.
Furthermore, the team behind this rather stunning controller mentions that it is inspired by natural landscapes and the world around us. The earth-tone colours come together to create a patchwork effect featuring bright pops of colour while feeling calm and serene at the same time. The D-pad, Xbox button and front case are inspired by lichen from the Pacific Northwest Forest. The bumpers, triggers, and side grips feature a topographic texture pattern in a nod to the dynamic earth landscape.
Xbox continues to work on sustainability across its products by reducing energy consumption on the Xbox Series lineup and being the first carbon-aware console on the market. Creating and offering the Shutdown (energy saving) power option, a feature made available last year was meant to be a way to reduce emissions and be sustainable in the long run. However, many still decided that Sleep (Instant-On) was more convenient to use.
Earlier this year, a new console update bridged a gap by adding a new way to interact with your console —one that will schedule when updates and firmware updates for you (or whatever hours you choose to do so) giving you a maintenance window for all the busy work your console requires.
The Xbox Wireless Controller – Remix Special Edition is available for preorder worldwide for $99.99 and launches on April 18, 2023.
