I don’t own an Xbox Series X/S yet. I’ve been tempted, but my PS5 has held me over enough to not feel any urgency to go green. However, that changed a bit this week after Microsoft revealed two glorious new colours for the Xbox Series X/S controller.
Revealed today on Microsoft’s website is a new hue called Deep Pink, a wonderful shade of hot pink. The design is rather tame compared to some of Xbox’s other releases; the controller has a pink coating with matching analogue sticks and centre buttons. The back is white while the triggers, D-pad, and ABXY buttons are black with pink font. I wish Microsoft had gone with a full white-on-pink theme, but the controller still looks great.
Unfortunately, the Deep Pink Xbox controller costs $US65 ($90), a bit more than the other $US60 ($83) single-colour controllers, like the White, Black, Red, Blue, and Volt (think Gatorade lime) versions.
This new colour arrives a few days after Microsoft released a special edition Xbox controller to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its console’s launch in Scottland. The design, created in collaboration with a kiltmaking company, is missing only a bagpipe. It includes Xbox’s archetypal colours of “RV Green”, “Viv Green”, and “Apple 13” (green, green, and greener) in a traditional tartan pattern (crisscrossed, horizontal, and vertical multi-coloured stripes).
To be clear, the controller is covered in a fabric surface, and not just any fabric — but tartan woven by Lochcarron, the oldest weaving mill in Scotland. It has also apparently been entered into the Scottish Register of tartans.
The resulting controller looks like something Sackboy (sorry, again, I own a PlayStation) would use. I actually don’t mind it. The symmetry is nice, and while I’ll always be thinking about whether I wiped all the pizza grease off my fingers before touching it, I don’t mind the cloth.
We created an Xbox tartan then hand-crafted a custom Xbox controller with it.
Follow and RT with #XboxTartanSweepstakes for your chance to win, thanks to Gordon Nicolson Kiltmakers!
Age 18+. End 5/3/22. Rules: https://t.co/8uGhoFgqMs pic.twitter.com/k6WVfWYAhp
— Xbox (@Xbox) April 27, 2022
This is obviously not for everyone. In fact, it’s technically only for a few people, since the custom controller is extremely limited and is being given away in a social media campaign in the UK. We just had to share it with our readers.
If you aren’t feeling either of these colours, the Xbox Design Lab lets you design your own controller with practically limitless customisation options (Deep Pink, by the way, is a standard colour option). Opting for some of the fancier options, like metallic colours or a custom engraving, raises the price, but having a completely unique controller might be worth it.
Editor’s Note: Release dates within this article are based in the U.S., but will be updated with local Australian dates as soon as we know more.