Xbox has revealed a new limited edition Gears of War controller to celebrate the release of Gears of War: E-Day. But fans have baulked at the £85 price point, labelling it “insane” and “baffling”.
Xbox unveiled two new controller designs – one of which is available only through the Xbox Design Lab – that “pay tribute to Emergence Day” with Gears-inspired artwork. The E-Day Limited Edition Xbox Wireless Controller features 3D-moulded details that nod to the emergence holes of series antagonists the Locust. The Crimson Omen is the pad’s centerpiece and it includes a cracked asphalt design with glowing red cracks.
The A, B, and Y buttons are blacked out, with a transparent red X button and D-pad and matching red-coloured right hand stick and trigger buttons. A dark silver metallic COG tag on the battery cover and rubberised back and side grips complete the design.
The second controller can only be created by fans who customise their pads through the Xbox Design Lab. This route features exclusive artwork by heavy metal illustrator Luke Preece, who has designed a skull “perched atop crossed Lancers”.
Fans raved about the designs initially, as one took to Reddit to say: “They look fire.” A second user wrote: “My wallet is not gonna be happy.”
Others were dismayed that there was no Elite Series option, as one said: “Just wish one of them would be an Elite Controller but these are nice.” Another referenced the unreliable nature of Xbox controller’s hardware, adding: “They look amazing but they’ll still get stick drift in less than 6 months.”
Both designs are available for pre-order now, ahead of release on September 30. Xbox also announced an officially licensed 8BitDo charging dock that comes with the E-Day Controller.
However, some gamers found the controllers hard to get hold of – they’re available on the Microsoft store and were sold out in the US at the time of writing. But UK buyers found listings on Amazon as on added on Reddit: “You can pre-order it on Amazon right now, I just did.. but for £84.99, which is insane for a standard controller.”
Another wrote: “Really cool, but much too overpriced for what is essentially a standard Xbox controller with a fancy design. I can’t personally justify the $30-$40 premium just because it looks cool, I could almost buy 2 controllers for that price.
“If it had paddles, hall effect sticks, or any other kind of actual hardware improvements, I might be more interested.”
