When the Xbox One released it was, well, there’s no beating around the bush: there’s a reason why the PlayStation 4 has sold over twice as many units as the Xbox One. The original Xbox One was an oversized, clunky box everyone compared to a betamax player, and the console came bundled with the Kinect. You know, that universally-panned sensor bar that never functioned as intended, drove up the original Xbox One’s price by $100, and spawned a million “Microsoft is Big Brother/Always Watching You” memes? Oh, and the console’s E3 reveal didn’t do the Xbox One any favor thanks to unwelcome policies such as always requiring an internet connection and forcing gamers to pay a fee to play used games.
Luckily, history has been kind to the Xbox One. Microsoft has learned from its mistakes and done away with most of the console’s draconian and bafflingly backwards policies and features. I would even go so far as to say that the Xbox One might even be a must-buy console thanks to cross-play functionality and the absolutely beastly power hiding under the hood of the Xbox One X. But, the Xbox One still lags behind other consoles in a few key areas, and I don’t just mean its (current) lack of exclusive titles.
(Rechargeable) Batteries Sold Separately
Xbox One “Features” We Still Hate
Picture if you will, an online match of Fortnite. You have surpassed all expectations, and it’s down to you and one other player. Suddenly, your character stops moving. You jiggle the control sick and press the buttons, but your character doesn’t respond. You look down at the controller and see that the home button light is turned off, the controller’s batteries dead. Before you get a chance to search a nearby drawer for a fresh pair of AAs, your opponent strolls up to you and attacks you, winning the match. This isn’t a scene from the Twilight Zone; it’s a real life situation Xbox One owners have to deal with on a daily basis because the Xbox One controller doesn’t come with rechargeable batteries.
Most controllers these days come standard with a built-in battery. All you have to do is plug a power cord into a controller. Then you can go about your day and come back to the controller several hours later when it has a full charge. But the Xbox One controller? It still relies on AA batteries. Sure, you can always buy a rechargeable battery (and charging cable) for the controller, but that’s the key word: buy. If you want to plug the controller into the console to give it a charge, you need to shell out anywhere between $25 and $50 on top of the controller. As for the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch controllers, the rechargeable batteries and charging cable come free with admission.