The Evolution Of Xbox Pads

From the original big-boned ‘Duke’ to the elegant extravagance of the Elite Series 2, OXM charts the history of Xbox controllers to date

- Dave Meikleham

At the dawn of time, just after the Big Bang went boom, the gaming gods made a pad that changed it all. And by ‘dawn of time’ we mean ‘GDC 2000’, and by ‘changed it all’, read: ‘Microsoft made a gamepad the size of a Buick’. First revealed 20 years ago, the original Xbox pad would inspire a collection of the finest controllers ever constructed.

Despite its intimidating size, ‘The Duke’ – as it came to be affectionately known in later years – helped form a legacy of gamepads that would become synonymous with quality and comfort. Yet the journey to the high-end luxury of today’s Elite Controller Series 2, which you can hold in your hands for a ‘mere’ £160/$180, wasn’t without the odd bump along the road. Join us as we take you through the inside story of the evolution of Xbox controllers…

To tell the tale of how that original pad was conceived, we need the assistance of one of the key figures in Xbox history. Enter Seamus Blackley. Often nicknamed ‘The Father of Xbox’, it’s a fitting moniker for the game designer who dreamed up the wacky concept of Microsoft’s first videogame console on a red-eye flight from Boston to Seattle back in the late ‘90s.