Microsoft: $100m spent on Xbox One gamepad R&D

A whopping $100m was spent on research and development for Xbox One’s controller, Microsoft has revealed.

Speaking with VentureBeat, Xbox GM for accessories Zulfi Alam explained that the company went through a variety of prototypes before settling on a design similar to the Xbox 360 peripheral.

"I don’t want to go into specifics, but it’s over $100 million for sure,” Alam said.

Between the tooling of the device, the investments we made in process technology, and the engineering work that went into it, we invested a lot to get this thing right."

Some of the more unorthodox prototypes Microsoft considered include controllers with screens, speakers, cameras, and touchpads – though the one with the built-in scent emitter has to take the cake.

Despite Microsoft going with a more familiar model in the end, the firm still spent a good chunk of the R&D budget on nailing the new guide button along with implementing new button-making technology to help the letters on the gamepad’s buttons stand out better.

"It’s not a drop in the bucket," Alam explained.

For any company, when you spend that much money, you have to make sure that the output is amazing. This team bet its careers on this."