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An Xbox creator explained why the horrid 'Duke' controller is coming back

People feel real nostalgia for one of gaming's most ridiculous forgotten relics.

Adam Rosenberg

on September 25, 2017

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Microsoft's widely maligned "Duke" controller is coming back, but it hasn't been clear why the Xbox maker would do such a thing... until now.

Let's back up. At E3 2017 in June, Microsoft announced a partnership with Hyperkin for the Duke re-release. There was a video teaser and everything.

Last week, Seamus Blackley -- one of the architects of the original Xbox -- tweeted out a photo of Hyperkin's new-old controller, our first real look. It looks mostly the same, save for the addition of an extra pair of shoulder buttons (so you can play modern games) and a small screen in the center where a plastic Xbox logo used to sit.

Now, Blackley is back to answer the fundamental question: "Why is there a re-release of the OG Xbox controller when 'everybody hates it?'" He attempted to provide an answer in a lengthy Twitter thread on Monday.

Apparently, Microsoft outsourced development of the original controller's circuit board, and the finished product turned out too large. Blackley and his Xbox team made it work, but -- as we all know -- it was "enormous."

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In the next stretch of tweets, Blackley recounts what happened around the Xbox reveal. It sounds like the oversized controller was a casualty of busy development schedules. He claims to have "lost track" of its progress until "I was standing on stage holding this thing."

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The reveal drew an immediate angry response, because of course it did. Never has there been a more unwieldy controller than the Duke. Not even the Nintendo 64's weird pistol-grip thing comes close.

The backlash made Blackley's life difficult, especially as he traveled to Japan to sell the local game development and publishing scene on Microsoft's new video game console. That, he wrote, is how the more streamlined "S" controller came to exist.

Fast-forward now to 2016. Blackley was going through boxes of stuff when he came across a prototype of the Duke. He tweeted out a photo, and -- bizarrely -- people got excited. Nostalgia is a powerful force, clearly.

I'll let Blackley's own words tell the rest of the story from here. But the TL;DR of it all: It's your own dang fault, gamers. If you didn't get nostalgic over old, forgotten, terrible things, they wouldn't resurface to haunt us years later.

(For the record: I am 100 percent buying a Duke, even if I hate myself afterward.)

(Also, disregard the tweet numbering below. There isn't a missing #14 -- Blackley merely jumped from 13 to 15.)

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Honestly, I'm pretty sure everyone hated the Duke, and everyone will still hate the Duke when it's here. But it's an indelible piece of our shared gaming history, and -- for lots of players -- it summons up fond memories of a more innocent time.

Topics Gaming Microsoft Xbox

Adam Rosenberg

Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.