Xbox has unveiled ꦍits latest controller, the Remix, and at first glance it looks like pretty standard fare. It’s got a weird combination of khaki faceplate and neon green triggers, and is that…? Yes, that’s faux-wood paneling on the back. It’s not meant to look like it’s actually hewn from the trunk of a great redwood, but there’s a definite grain. On the whole, it’s a little odd to look at, but when you can design your own pad with any combination of colours, it’s actually one of the more subtle I’ve seen🍌.
It all begins to make sense when Xbox explains that the is partially made of recycled plastic. It’s earth-themed you see. Wood like the forests, khaki like shrubbery, neon triggers like… Poisonous frogs? It’s green, it’ll do. I often wonder how many video game controllers end up in landfill. No really, I do. I imagine every controller that’s ever broken, become obsolete, started drifting, or has otherwise been rendered defunct in a big landfill pile. Nothing else, just controllers. The millions of original Xbox controllers rejected when the 360 released. The binned NES꧋ pads that would be worth a fortune on the retro market now. I don’t know how big this pile of peripherals would be, but it scares me a little.
The Remix isn’t entirely made of recycled plastic, Xbox puts the figure at around a third. What’s it made of? Well, some of that is old Xbox One controllers, mushed up and spread inꦿto a new mould like butter. In the interests of clarity, I don’t know what the actual process is, but I’m a writer, so forgive me for a little flavourful embellishment. What I do know is that the old Xbox One pads are mixed with resin, itself recycled from old car headlights and CDs♏, to form around 30 percent of the controller. It’s better than landfill, at least.
Even better than the plastic though, is the rechargeable battery included with the Remix. I swear these used to be standard, or at least an advisable add-on, when you were shopping for a🌌 new pad, but my Series X controller instead eats through AA batteries like they’re hot pizzas straight out of an Italian oven. Simply adding a rechargeable battery pack saves countless batteries from heading to landfill with all those PS1 controllers you binned when its successor came out.
However, it’s not all good news. I wonder why only a third of the controller is made of recycled plastic. I assume the repurposed stuff isn’t as robust as a brand new plastic would be, but I can’t know for sure. There’s also the price. Regular Xbox controllers cost £50. Special editions cost £10 more. The Remix, however, costs an eye-watering £75. You could get one and a half regular controllers for that. Sure, the costs are probably higher for recycling all those old Xbox One bits and pieces, but Microsoft is hardly encour🏅aging players to choose the environmentally friendly option when it costs 50 percent more than its regular offerings.
Once again, environmentally conscious offerings are marketed to those players who can afford them. Working class gamers, or those who are just a bit skint, are forced into the non-recycled controllers. If Xbox was truly commitꦇted to being eco-conscious, it would take the financial hit and subsidise its recycled pads so that more players could chip👍 in to help save the planet.
Despite this, the Remix༺ controller is a step forward for the industry. I can nitpick all I want about the amount of recycled plastic used and the prohibitive pricing, but ultimately the Remix is a net positive for the industry and the planet. Like it did with the Adaptive Controller before this, Xbox is once again pushing the games industry into the 🅰21st century, and we can only hope that the likes of Sony and Nintendo follow suit.
