What you need to know
- The Designed for Xbox team began working with third-party accessory manufacturers to create themed seasonal colorways of licensed Xbox accessories.
- The first collection included controllers from PowerA and 8BitDo as well as a controller case from Otterbox in pastels.
- The 2023 Summer Collection includes 7 accessories from PowerA, Audeze, Hyperkin, and WD_Black with a shimmery, glittery theme.
In the Spring of 2022, the Designed for Xbox team collaborated with brands such as PowerA, 8BitDo and OtterBox to license a line of third-party accessories for Xbox consoles in a range of pastel colorways. Since that initial collection, the Designed for Xbox team has been largely silent and most of the unique and limited edition controllers we have seen have been through official Xbox venues like Design Labs. That drought seems to have come to an end, however, as we have an all-new wave of third-party accessories licensed for Xbox—and this time they're bringing the sparkle. Here are the new accessories announced today:
Audeze Maxwell Ultraviolet Edition Wireless Gaming Headset
In partnership with Designed for Xbox, Audeze has created a limited edition "Ultraviolet" version of their popular Maxwell gaming headset. The sleek planar magnetic headset features a color-shifting metallic finish on the ear cups and headbands that was applied to the headset's aluminum and steel made chassis via an electroplating process. This headset isn't just stylish, its also going to blow you away with Dolby Atmos and Bluetooth 5.3 LE Audio support coupled with 90mm planar drivers. It's a good thing the battery on these headphones last a whopping 80+ hours and charge in just 20 minutes because you're not going to want to take them off for long.
The Audeze Maxwell Ultraviolet Edition Wireless Gaming Headset is available for pre-order and will officially be available on August 15 at a MSRP of $329.
PowerA Advantage Wired Controller for Xbox Series X|S - Sparkle
PowerA understood the "shimmer" assignment and then proceeded to knock it out of this galaxy with the nebula inspired Sparkle controller. Swirls of purple and gold glitter adorn the faceplate while two mappable Advanced Gaming Buttons and a 3-way trigger locks can be found on the back side. PowerA controllers are equipped with diamond-textured grips, and precision-tuned analog sticks surrounded by anti-friction rings along with a 3.5mm standard stereo headset jack. This controller is wired, but the USB-C cable included in the box is 10 feet in length. There's no wait on this one, you can purchase the PowerA Sparkle wired controller right now for $38.
Hyperkin Xenon Wired Controller for Xbox - Cosmic Night and Twilight Galaxy
The nostalgia for the Xbox 360 controller has been surprisingly strong, and now Hyperkin's remake of the classic is getting two new shimmery colorways as part of the Designed for Xbox collaboration. These officially licensed Xbox 360 replica controllers can be used with the Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Windows 10/11. They feature precision impulse triggers with a dedicated share button and the beloved 3.5mm audio jack. Preorders are live now while the controllers are expected to actually launch on July 24 for $50 each.
WD_Black D30 Game Drive SSD For Xbox - Limited Edition Summer Collection
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Xbox has had a long history of buddying up to Seagate for licensed third-party accessories, but for the Summer collection we see WD_BLack join forces with Xbox again. The D30 Game Drive SSD is a 1TB storage add on for your Xbox console with accelerated speeds up to 900MB/s to help limit load times. The Summer Edition Game Drive is available today for $120.
There's one important note with this SSD, however, and that it is incapable of running Xbox Series X|S games. If you're going to connect this shimmery delight to your Series console you will only be able to run backward compatible titles such as original Xbox, Xbox 360 or Xbox One titles. While you can store and archive Xbox Series titles to these SSDs you will need to transfer them to the internal drive or an external card from Seagate or WD_Black that is suitable for the Xbox Series consoles.
PDP Wired Controller for Xbox - Frosted Diamond and Australian Opal
PDP and Xbox collaborated to create 2 additional wired controller options for the Summer collection, this time in Frosted Diamond and Australian Opal colorways. These designs are inspired by the "sparkle, shimmer and glitter" of summertime and feature a built-in audio jack with a button for muting and unmuting your mic while keeping your hands on the controls as well as laser-etched texture on the grips, thumbsticks and triggers.
The free PDP Control Hub app gives you the option to configure and remap your buttons, triggers and deadzones so that you always have an immersive gaming experience tailored to how and what you play. The PDP Frosted Diamond and Australian Opal controllers are available now for $40.
