Xbox Controllers Still Use AA Batteries Because Of A Duracell Deal, Suggests Spokesperson

They also intentionally changed the battery compartment so (some) Xbox One battery packs do not fit in the Series controllers, so by "choice" they mean go buy some more products from our partners

This is a much more believable reason than Microsoft's comment about choice.

Internal battery pack like with Sony and Nintendo controllers benefits most people with companies that make traditional batteries being the main group that doesn't benefit.

Imagine your controller dying and you have no spare batteries 😂 it's 2021 and they are still using batteries and have no gyro, this is why I prefer third party controllers

@Deadcow
You must be using garbage brand Batteries my AAs last a solid two months before a change.

I use Enerloop rechargeable batteries in my Elite 1 controller, they don’t last too long but I always have a second pair ready to go, so flat batteries are never an issue. I prefer this to being tethered to the console while it’s charging so I do think there’s some merit to Microsoft’s claim it’s about choice.

I think maybe the best option would be for them to ship the controller with a rechargeable battery that can be swapped out. That way player’s have the convenience of being able to leave the controller on charge or swapping the pack over. Not being able to replace the battery in my DS4 has been a definite pain.

I personally like using AAs. I also use Duracells that I get on Subscribe and Save from Amazon every month. We need them for just about everything else in the house with my two kids. So I always have AAs. I get about 1 month on a new set of AAs. My PS4 has the chargeable controller with no option. For me in this house, it never fails, but when I am ready to play something on the PS4, the controller is always near dead. So I go plug it in and decide to play XBox instead that evening. My coworker tells me to get a massively long charging cable for the PS4 controller, but that just seems goofy to me with two kids and 2 dogs always in the living room at the same time.

@carlos82 as another reader commented - I'm also using the official battery, took it straight out. 3rd party ones, I don't know unfortunately.

@Kramlar @Bruvas yeah the official ones sit inside I believe as if it were a battery? Many 3rd party ones are all in one replacing the original cover so they can be placed in a charging stand. Yet for the new controllers they've changed the shape of inside of the cover so they no longer fit

The AA batteries is such a great feature, rechargeable AA's seem to give me much better battery life than my PS4 and Switch controllers with built-in batteries and it only takes a few seconds to swap them out. I just love not having to worry about when I last charged my controller or having to tether it to a cable because the battery drained.

@carlos82 Remember when they said "All your Xbox One accessories will work"? Lol

@JayJ You can’t mean the Switch Pro Controller? The battery life on that thing is simply insane.

@carlos82 I see what you are saying (thanks for clarifying). I can see how that'd be frustrating if that's the situation you're in.

I have no problem with aa batteries, Just buy some rechargeables and your good to go..

@UltimateOtaku91
On the flip side for longevity, Lithium ion batteries lose their charge over time and can't be changed if soldered to the controller.
At least that case is avoided and you have the option with Xbox.
I remember my PS Move controller for use with PSVR could barely hold a charge after 3 years and became near useless. Same with my original launch DualShock4 controller.

I love having AA. I have 2 pairs of eneloop always ready to go. I NEVER have to hook it to a wire or charge base. My internal PS4 batteries are really bad in comparison and just get worse over time. Haven’t had the Ps5 controller long enough to see how long it will last, but just the fact that I have to hook it up to charge is a knock against it. Xbox players can by a rechargeable battery pack if they want, but I definitely prefer the AA solution over Sony’s internal battery solution.

@blinx01 I have to agree that the launch dualshock 4 was awful my newer version dualshock 4 lasts three times as along. I believe the switch pro controller has about 40 hours of battery from one charge which puts other controllers to shame

@Gaming365247 i was going to buy the eneloop ones personally but the Duracell were dirt cheap at Costco so i just grabbed those. They last maybe 12 hours of gaming? I have spares ready to go so whenever i need to switch then it's just a minute and I'm settled. I have heard that the eneloop pro batteries are supposed to be fantastic though... just couldn't justify the cost personally.

The biggest downside of my Elite Series 2 is the built in battery.

After going through several PS4 controllers and eventually just getting a wired one, under no circumstance do I want to see more built in batteries.

That's even ignoring that fact that you get much better battery life from a set of enloops than the built in batteries.

I don't mind the freedom of choice. Even if you don't have batteries, you can still use the controller tethered. I grabbed a powerA play and charge kit. Came with two batteries, a cable to charge them, all for $8.

Replaceable batteries are great for consumer choice. I don't have a 10' USB cable to charge my controller and play comfortably at the same time so it's nice to be able to throw some AA batteries in when the rechargeable is low and put that battery in a second controller.

On the Xbox One at least you can't just plug the controller into a phone charger to juice it up, it has to be connected to the console as well. If I want to charge the controller overnight I'm stuffed.

Plus you can get rechargeable AA batteries which can be used in other things as well.

Having to buy AA batteries is a bane of my life and its not the Xbox controller I'm talking about. TV remotes, radio controlled cars... I could go on but I must be paying so much on these thing and they are never around when you need them. So infuriating. When I buy my Series X my first purchase will be a charger pack but (as I've mentioned in the past) why can't they offer me a controller for the same price but with the rechargable battery pack included. Why do I have to pay the £20 for the charger pack already then pay it again to get the damn charger pack, making the official price of the controller to be £75 really. Which is far more expensive than a PS5 controller which holds many more features.
Thats not choice to me, thats forcing people to pay for every option.

I wonder if this Duracell deal is whats holding back the features found in all other controllers and its not because MS don't think people want it? They thought people wanted Kinnect which is far more unlikely than features in a controller.

I've not had to use an xbox pad wired up since the early 360 days. Swapping your rechargeable AA batteries (which can be used in other things) is a lot more convenient than being tethered to a console or mains until your pad has charged.

People complain about built in batteries in phones but in controllers they want a built in accu?

I use a wired connection because the controller eats batteries like I eat lasagne. When I do use batteries I use Lidl's Aerocell brand which were actually rated as one of the best batteries by UK consumer show watchdog (and from experience, I agree) but they still don't last longer than a day or so of gameplay. Another reason I go wired is because I feel bad for the environment if I am throwing out batteries every other day.

The most annoying bit is the controller turning off rumble when the battery gets low, I don't want to miss out on that sweet rumble which is another reason why I use a wired connection. I should and will one day get a rechargeable battery pack but I just haven't done the research on the best one to get

I really doubt the comment meant that MS uses AA batteries because of a deal with Duracell as the headline insinuates. It sounds like what was really meant was that Duracell has the agreement to supply the included OEM batteries, and the motherboard batteries for the system - meaning MS probably gets a good deal on name brand batteries by guaranteeing both the hardware and the accessories are contractually bound to Duracell.

I definitely prefer the AA solution, and the built-in battery is one big reason I never bought an Elite v2.

I'm surprised so many people are just defaulting to disposable batteries though. Quality rechargable AA batteries, namely Eneloop and Amazon and other store branded varients, changed rechargables ages ago. The timing coincided with Wii & 360..... I'm still using some of the same batteries I used in the Wii & 360...they just recharge forever and ever and ever.

Meanwhile my Dual Shock 3's from the same era are long, long, long since dead, unable to hold a charge.

@UltimateOtaku91 Dual Shock, Joycon/Switch/WiiU Pro, MS Elite v2 battery dies while playing and I have to either stop playing or string a cable across the room and continue playing with a wired controller like it's 1988 while it recharges during play.

XBox or Elite V1 controller battery dies while playing and I just pop the cover off and swap a different set in and keep going? Definitely my preferred option.

@Grumblevolcano How exactly does a permanently affixed battery that is guaranteed to totally fail in a few years and can't be user-replaced benefit "most people", in any way? Built-in batteries in controllers were a stupid idea at the start - it's a remote control. Who wants a TV remote that the battery will fail totally every few years and can't be replaced? Smartphones, tablets, and even Joycon need the permanently attached batteries because they need the high voltage or the compact footprint or both. Bleh.

@BulkSlash My Eneloop (whites) last a good 2 weeks with heavy use (several hours daily) and many months with infrequent use. Are you using the black "Pro" ones? Those are a little different, they're good for high drain devices like camera flashes and things, but can actually have less run time on low drain devices (and a shorter overall life.)

@vyseofhr Insanely awful maybe, seems like half the time I go to grab that controller the battery is nearly dead. That's a big problem with controllers that have built-in batteries, if you don't use them all the time they can often be dead when you go to grab them, then you gotta plug them in and wait hours for them to charge up when you could have just swapped in a fresh set of AA's if they took them.

I prefer AA batteries. I have a pile of like 12 rechargeable batteries and once 4 are dead I put them on the charger. Pretty much impossible to ever be caught without a charged controller. I try to keep the same pairs of batteries together to get an idea if any are bad. Personally I think this is the best way to approach a controller so I dont have to take them apart when they need a new internal battery. Shout out to the switch pro controller tho, that thing lasts forever on a charge.

I prefer it because over time batteries deteriorate so I’d rather not have to buy a new controller because the battery has gone, invest in rechargeable ones is the best bet

To me, the ability to have batteries future proofs it. I’ve seen WAYYYYY too many PS3 controllers need to be opened up and have new batteries installed because of the constant play over 15 years time. Whereas if I wanted to play with my 360, I can just pop in a couple of Eneloops without having to disassemble the controller.

@NEStalgia I do sometimes use the Pro black ones, but I mostly use the regular Eneloops. I have a small tub full of funky coloured ones, I think the reason they don't last too long is some of them have been sat in the tub ages and so have depleted a bit.

@BulkSlash Maybe. Depends how old they are, too. They've improved the charge retention somewhat over the few revisions since the initial ones, though I've seen some say that they actually all have the same retention and just changed the rating to show it's better than initially believed. Generally for a year or two in storage they shouldn't have much less charge than fresh.

The ones I'd left in my X1 controller since sometime spring 2019 and had mostly only played some Spiro with it (last year went to Switch and PS mostly by chance), are the ones I popped into the XSX, and they ran another week or so in there. But I'm not sure which "generation" that particular set was.

Do yours say Sanyo or Panasonic? Sometimes that's the differentiator, especially since the oldest Sanyos had less total capacity.

The Pros definitely aren't the best for the controllers though. The higher capacity is offset by a steeper discharge rate and a worse storage retention (and far fewer recharge cycles.) Good for RC vehicles, flash strobes, anything that needs peak current longer and burns through a higher capacity in short time.

So far, the only ones I've had that went bad were mostly AAAs that I kept using in this one remote that had a bad capacitor and drained them. At one time they'd last like a week and a half in there...then a week. Then it "felt" like every 3 or for days it was dead. Then suddenly it was daily. I thought it was the batteries, until I'd left them out for a week or so and the device never powered on again, lol. Apparently I was feeding the dead capacitor as much juice as I could and it kept it going, but once it discharged it could never charge up again. That thing probably ate a dozen AAA batteries with repeated deep discharges, and I never even realized it.

@AlexOlney This reminds me of the consumer choice to spend even more money for the luxury of lan on the Switch.

@NEStalgia My Pros are Panasonic and the regular ones are Sanyo. The Sanyos are pretty old now, 5 or 6 years at least I think but they do the job. I mostly use the Pros in my modded GBC with IPS screen these days, although I’m not sure if the regular batteries would be better there as well! 😅

Lol i use duracell rechargeables, so works for me!