If you purchased an Xbox Wireless Controller from the Microsoft Store, Xbox Design Lab, or a third‑party retailer in December 2025 or later, and the package didn't include AA batteries, you may be eligible to receive an Xbox Rechargeable Battery + USB‑C Cable
Receipt is not required. Only the serial on the controller is needed
Maybe not the console, but certainly the controller, one of best ever.
Beat me to it :D
Username sort of checks out.
Highly recommend you try the 8BitDo Ultimate 2 - its pretty amazing if you can get it for the right price. Comes with TMR joysticks. When its on sale its around $50.
The 8bitdo is great in its own regard but the size and shape is very different compared to an Xbox controller.
Even with average size hands I find the 8bitdo a little awkward to hold for long gaming sessions, the Xbox controller is just more comfortable.
As a guy that’s touched many controllers, I can say you get a lot for your money.
That said, I found that the variance been units is noticeable, I have one where the triggers fire higher up than the other, and the sticks are a little crunchier on one of the units.
XB series controllers have been consistently good so can defs give them a thumbs up.
don't they have drift issues?
"purchased an Xbox Wireless Controller"
Do you mind enlightening people outside of the Xbox/console bubble on what happened?
Was there a major scandal or something?
Alright ps5 fanboi
@King Steuart: The wording is deliberately tricky. If you read the article, it doesn’t say combined, it says it has outsold all Xbox consoles.
When the PS5 reached total sales of 84.2M last year, it surpassed the last reported number of Xbox 360 consoles sold at 84m.
The Xbox Series S/X have probably sold half that of PS5.
The Xbox Series S/X have probably sold half that of PS5.
Ok so that backs up my first statement "PS5 greatly outselling Xbox"
arent they just pursuing a logically step here and potentially exiting the hardware game? theyre a software company at its heart and from what i can tell, have decent 'xbox" app on most smart tv's, so they're basically using the tv hardware as their distribution backed by their games/cloud services which are likely much higher returns/margins and not subject to chip storages and other supply chain bullshit?
Pretty much this, it’s been years since Xbox has felt competitive in the hardware space.
They don’t seem to be trying to win anyone to their platform and instead just change Xbox to mean their game pass service.
Overall is bad for us end users with one less player in the space
They had issues with batteries in the controller boxes not being included like they usually are, they are giving those users who bought them a "free" rechargeable battery pack which is typically a separate purchase as reimbursement.
I think I might be eligible! Today is turning out to be a great day!
Nice deal for the rare few who still buy Xbox controllers these days and even rarer are those who do not already have a pile of rechargeable AA batteries from all the OzBargain deals!
On a serious note, once I switched to 8BitDo and GameSir, I could not go back. My 20th Anniversary Xbox controller is now sitting in the garage…
100% this - 8BitDo Ultimate 2 is my fav - im sure its Ozb fav as well since its one of the most posted controller dealers over the past few years
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/search/node/8BitDo%20Ultimate%2…
Nice, I might wait for another deal. My Xbox controller goes through Bluetooth to my pc and I feel it’s a tad laggy.
I have the 8BitDo Ultimate 2 and GameSir Nova 2 Lite, and they are both excellent. I like them both much more than the Xbox controller. The Nova is better suited for people with larger hands and feels closer to an Xbox controller in hand.
Are they wireless to xbox or Bluetooth?
The entire reason I've abandoned Xbox is because the controllers break so frequently. Trying to use Xbox controllers feels more like a subscription than ownership.
What are u people doing? Playing Mario party or something on emu??
He has hands like a guerrilla.
But so soft….
I agree with elite controllers, but personally, 360 and one~X/S ones seem to be long-lasting.
I have two elite controllers, one is the first gen and that kinda fell apart from normal usage and now the design lab gen 2 one is falling apart and has stick drift. Never again now haha
My issue with xbox controllers are their buttons get sticky and the sticks drift after a year or 2. It's a pain trying to clean the buttons with isopropyl every few months.
Wash your hands after eating Cheetos!
My solution to this is to use my 360 controllers and a Brook Wingman converter.
The Xbox One and Series controllers are designed to fail.
I have only had an issue with one Xbox controller and that was from rage quitting during "The Eliminator" in Forza 5
I rage smashed a controller trying to beat a drift zone in fh5 😭
I have never broken a game controller or had a controller break, of any kind, in 34 years of life. What are you people doing to your things?
And yes, this includes stick drift, which I still haven't experienced.
I have 10 controllers sitting in my spare room, they all have stick drift. Every single one of them. XBox won't get another cent from me.
This is over probably 5-10 years of use when I had my son and I using them frequently, they definitely got a workout. I've never had Wii controllers fail or Sony controllers fail though (beyond one or two), so I don't think it's fair to say we just broke them, the other controllers from Nintendo and Sony have been fine in comparison.
I built my son a gaming computer and we've abandoned Xbox on principle. I bought him a controller for the PC that uses HAL effect sensors so it won't get stick drift.
You stopped buying them after only ten seperate controllers were faulty!?
@topherboi: All of my sons friends were xbox all the way through primary school. I know I was getting taken for a ride but thankfully his friends have all moved to Steam or Playstation now.
Yeah I've had Xbox since the og and now joining the stuck drift club - it sucks. 19 is very bad and they're not cheap either
I was like you until recently. Always singing the praises of the first-party controllers, since the 90s.
A few hundred hours of gaming on the latest version of the standard xbox controller and one has weird drift and the other a stuck shoulder button.
Finally did something I thought I'd never do: bought a 3rd-party controller. 8bitdo. Loving it so far.
Yeah i was in the same boat until the ozb community convinced me 8bitdo make the best controllers (if they fit your hands).
Same here. Either I've had great luck or others are handling theirs poorly because I've never had a controller break on me whether it's stick drift or stuck buttons. I have 4 Xbox One/series controllers, 2 Xbox 360 controllers, a PS4 controller, a Wii U Pro controller, a Switch Pro controller and more. They all work fine.
I wash my hands and take care of my belongings. I think I'm in the minority because there's probably a lot of grubby gamers out there eating Cheetos while hammering their controllers. All sorts of crap probably builds up inside causing the drift and sticky buttons.
I've experienced stick drift on one of my Series X controllers but I managed to fix it by swapping it with the controller that actually came with the X.
It's strange because when I have it connected to my PC the drift is really bad (games are nigh unplayable) but when it's connected to the console the drift is minor (just a very slight nudge).
The problem is it's entirely random. Sometimes drift will pop up within 6 months, sometimes not at all after multiple years of usage. I went through 3 or 4 series controllers over the years, all drifted.
When I bought my final one, I figured it was only going to be so long until it started to drift and bought an 8bitdo as well. That bright yellow series controller ended up never developing drift or any button sticking issues, so it ended up being used more than the 8bitdo (slightly better shape for my hands).
At that stage it's easier to fix the shape of your hands than having a reliable controller. 😂
What i dont like about xbox wireless controller is that it does not give me warning if battery is running low. So few times when playing online, battery just died and i died too n lost the game
Eneloops?
You can check so don't be lazy
The vibration motors stop working when the battery is low, thats the first sign.
I thought the Xbox logo starts flashing when it is low
Mine have always given warnings? Maybe it's just with standard AAs, idk. I use rechargable AAs and they give me a shitload of heads up that the battery is low, to the point I normally ignore it for a couple more days until it will eventually die.
What heads up does it give you before it dies?
Im using ladda/eneloops but dont notice any heads up when batt is low
You know when you get an achievement, and it makes that beep, and the little thing pops on the screen? I get that, but it doesn't have a fun animation, it just pops up, big ol' rectangle at the bottom centre of the screen. "Your controller batteries are getting low" or something similar to that. Same beep as a disconnected controller from memory.
I've got some 2800 or so mAh Duracells in most of my remotes, so when it says low, there's still a decent bit left in them, it's probably budgeted on standard ~900ish AAs, where it's probably a lot closer to actually running out when it gives the system warning.
But I've been a daily Xbox user basically since they brought in back compat, so a good decade or so at this point, and it's been that way on every Xbox One, Series S, and Series X I've had / had over those years. Probably around 10 consoles in that time (I have a lot in use, and have also sold a couple when upgrading to newer ones, none died on me, for the record)
Any tricks to claim for controllers bought before Dec 2025?
You get a free hug
Mine is not eligible 😒
Strange my Design Lab controller didn’t come with batteries from December but isn’t eligible
Thanks OP.
Design lab order in December. After registering device, Start Order: https://imgur.com/a/KkxcFSC
This is going to be abused. How do they prove that the package did or didn't come with batteries. People are going to claim this even when their package came with batteries just to get a free rechargable battery pack.
I think Microsoft can afford to send out a few batteries.
The early Surface Docks were so unreliable that if you had one and called Microsoft Support as soon as you mentioned you had one they would send out the new design which was much improved.
Considering the serial will identify when it was made and sold, there's really only so many who could abuse it. I tried my luck with a new one that got opened the other week, been in a cupboard for about a year or so, turned out to be new old stock, marked as 2020. Did not get my free charge kit.
I have only controller, but no xbox. Bought it to play games through google streamer. Can i claim ?
You have to send it to google gemini.
Deal mentions about xbox controller purchase, not an xbox. Its genuine question.
Great, you just answered your question.
@Spendmore: My question wasn't for you, but for those who are similar situation.
The form on the link says that xbox shiuld be registered before continuing for its accessories i.e. controller.
@hellodealhunter: No it doesn't.
Go to account.microsoft.com/devices.
Select Register device > Register a new device.
Complete the registration flow.
Select the controller you registered then select Start order, and follow the onscreen instructions.
For Category, select Accessory and for Issue Type, select Charge Kit.
I bought one in March but don't see the pop-up for the free charge kit in there aw.
Same. Bought last week. No option.
I tried putting in some comments asking for one, to push my luck, but immediately it rejected me. I bought mine in November, so close yet so far. ;( Shame.
Is anyone else like me? Find it? Almost impossible to sign into your Microsoft account using your password?
I always get this error
You've tried to sign in too many times with an incorrect account or password.
Microsoft quality control process must be pretty bad to miss batteries in original pack.
Yeh they've definitely gone down hill over the past 12 months or so. First they started doing smaller boxes for all the special editions, which is fine to cut down on packaging, but then a few releases recently it's just a shipping box with a little cutout for the controller, no actual packaging box. Same with Design Labs controllers they used to ship in their own special box but now just a plain brown shipping box. I thought the lack of batteries on two of our controllers was another cost cutting measure but turns out they're just forgetful.
The light on the xbox controller is the worst thing ever invented, drives me nut when I use it.
Still (and always likely will) play the Xbox 360 more than I ever play the Xbox current gen.
One of the great things is you can play the older games on the current gen. I constantly swap between newer games and old classics. The bonus is the old games will run really well on the current gen consoles. Especially the x series. Some have been remastered also.
So we had 2 ship without batteries, thought it was just them cutting costs. The Design Lab controller didn't allow me to order one, a live chat (still no idea how I managed to do a live chat with Xbox Support) and the guy ordered one for me. The Spongebob controller also had no batteries but allowed me to order just fine.
Thanks OP!
I got the option, 'Cable and Charger - EXC - No Charge' for an Elite Controller Series 2 (2019) controller, warranty valid until mid-December 2026
I Tried registering the controller from series S console.
The controller just doesnt appear on my device list.
Might be some sort of whitelist system in place that checks if controller was brought on itself own
My controller was purchased in Dec 2025. When I did the request thing, it just doesn't have any service available. Any clue?
This will be a rare cohort, who would buy a Xbox after December 2025 haha.