The official Xbox Support account on X put it plainly: "A limited number of controllers have shipped without batteries since December. If you received one of these controllers, go here for a rechargeable battery on us. All controllers moving forward will include batteries."
So there it is. For roughly four months, some Xbox controllers left the warehouse with an empty battery compartment and nobody caught it.
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How a routine oversight became a four-month problem
Xbox controllers still use a removable battery compartment that takes standard AA batteries, a design choice that has been part of the Xbox hardware lineup for years. Normally, Microsoft bundles a pair of Duracell AA batteries in every box so you can start playing the moment you unbox the thing. That stopped happening sometime in December, and it apparently took until now for the issue to surface publicly.
The scale of the problem is described as affecting "a limited number of controllers," though Microsoft has not specified exact units. Given that the gap ran for several months across what would have been a busy holiday and post-holiday sales period, the number of affected customers is likely significant.
If your recently purchased Xbox controller came without batteries, visit aka.ms/batteries to register your device and claim your free rechargeable battery kit.
What Microsoft is actually sending out
Here's the thing: the compensation package is arguably better than what was missing. Instead of a couple of disposable AAs, Microsoft is offering the Xbox Rechargeable Battery + USB-C Cable combo, which normally retails for around $25 (currently available for roughly $15 on Amazon).
The kit replaces the need for disposable batteries entirely. Microsoft's own product description for it reads: "say goodbye to disposable batteries and interrupted gameplay," which makes it a touch ironic that the company has been shipping controllers with those same disposable cells for years.
Affected customers need to head to the compensation link, register their device, and follow the instructions to receive the kit.
The Duracell deal wrinkle
The reason Xbox controllers ship with AA batteries rather than a built-in rechargeable solution appears to involve a marketing arrangement with Duracell. The arrangement allegedly involves Duracell paying Microsoft to include its batteries in the box, creating positive brand association at the exact moment a player is about to have a fun gaming experience.
What most players miss is that this deal, if it exists, means the removable battery design is not purely a consumer-choice feature. It also serves as a recurring advertising channel. Whether that arrangement contributed to the oversight that left batteries out of shipments for months is not clear.
For now, Microsoft says all controllers going forward will include batteries again, which presumably means the Duracell arrangement resumes as normal. The free rechargeable kit offer remains available for those who received an empty box. Check out the latest gaming news for more hardware stories as they develop. Make sure to check out more:
