Xbox One controller comes to Windows

Microsoft takes the Xbox One controller and adds a cable for PC gaming.

Dan Ackerman Editorial Director / Computers and Gaming

Dan Ackerman leads CNET's coverage of computers and gaming hardware. A New York native and former radio DJ, he's also a regular TV talking head and the author of "The Tetris Effect" (Hachette/PublicAffairs), a non-fiction gaming and business history book that has earned rave reviews from the New York Times, Fortune, LA Review of Books, and many other publications. "Upends the standard Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs/Mark Zuckerberg technology-creation myth... the story shines." -- The New York Times

Expertise I've been testing and reviewing computer and gaming hardware for over 20 years, covering every console launch since the Dreamcast and every MacBook...ever. Credentials

Author of the award-winning, NY Times-reviewed nonfiction book The Tetris Effect; Longtime consumer technology expert for CBS Mornings

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Dan Ackerman

Sept. 16, 2014 8:00 a.m. PT

Microsoft's Xbox 360 controller has become the default gamepad for PC gamers, thanks to a simple USB connection and near-universal support for its dual analog sticks and button layout. But console gamers have had a year to get used to the more advanced Xbox One controller, while Windows gamers have had to stick with the older 360 model.

Microsoft now has an officially supported version of the Xbox One controller for Windows, which will allow PC gamers to ditch their Xbox 360 controllers and switch to the newer version. Unlike the wired version of the Xbox 360 controller, which had a permanently attached USB cable, this Xbox One version is identical to the console version, except that it comes bundled with a USB cable.

Yes, that means you could attach any USB cable to your current Xbox One controller, and get the same effect. Fortunately the Windows version costs the same $60 as the Xbox One version, and includes a Microsoft-branded USB cable. The Xbox One Controller + Cable for Windows will be available in November in the US. Exact prices and availability for the UK and Australia weren't yet available, but that price is roughly equivalent £37 and AU$66, respectively.