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Announced during Gamescom 2024 and surprise released last week, the Xbox Adaptive Joystick is an affordably priced Wii Nunchuck style wired controller for Xbox and PC, designed to be used as part of accessible gaming setups.
Able to be used as a standalone controller, or as part of an accessibility setup connected to an Xbox Adaptive Controller, the Adaptive Joystick is designed to be comfortably held in either hand or connected to a screw mount, and features one analogue stick, a bumper and trigger button pair, and four face buttons, comprising almost all of the buttons present on half of a standard Xbox controller layout.
I’ve spent the better part of the last week week trying out the Xbox Adaptive Joystick as part of my Xbox gaming setup, and have quickly grown to love what it offers. It has limitations and drawbacks worth discussing, but has quickly become my default tool of choice for playing games on Xbox.
Starting at the beginning, let’s talk about the unboxing experience. This shouldn’t be a huge surprise to anyone who follows this channel, but the Xbox Adaptive Joystick packaging is very well designed in terms of accessibility, demonstrating Xbox’s continued understanding of accessible packaging principles. The labels and tape securing the box shut feature easy to grab loops on either end to make gripping and removing ahesives managable. Once inside the box layers feature cardboard lifting flaps to make them easier to grip and lift out of the box. The box itself and all packaging material inside are made of cardboard and paper, with no twist ties or other fasteners requiring manual dexterity and fine motor control used for things like cable management.
There is one aspect of the box design which requires slightly more dexterity than the rest, one side of the box is held shut by light adhesive which requires gripping the edge of a cardboard box face and using slightly more force than the rest of the box to detach. However, overall, the box design should be able to be opened without assistance by a reasonably high percentage of disabled users.
The controller itself is comfortable to hold, if a little heavier than expected. It’s not uncomfortably heavy, at least in my experience, the surprise at the weight is more to do with expectations for a product without a battery installed for wireless use. The weight is likely there to ensure the controller is properly balanced for users attaching it to a screw mount, and to ensure a sturdy core to keep it stable for those users. That said, the level of weight present is notably less than holding a standard Xbox controller using a single hand for similar button and stick access, and gives the joystick a premium feel.
Unlike a standard Xbox controller, with its asymmetrical stick layout, every Xbox Adaptive Joystick features its joystick at the top, and buttons underneath. This may be initially uncomfortable for some users, particularly those with muscle memory for the old layout positions paired with pain associated with hand strain. This joystick layout default does make sense in context, when placed on a screw mount this layout places the analogue stick in a natural position for chin operation. This won’t be to every user’s personal tastes, but I think it’s a reasonable overall choice to have made.
Personally, I’ve found the Xbox Adaptive Joystick really comfortable to use for extended sessions of play. The controller feels natural to hold in either hand as part of a split handed setup, and feels designed with comfortable ergonomics in mind.
The Xbox Adaptive Joystick is a wired controller, with no option at present to purchase a wireless version of the device. I understand the logic here, accessible tech options are often prohibitively expensive, and making the controller wired only ensures the entry point for consumers is as low as possible, but that does obviously introduce some barriers to usage for some players.
While each Xbox Adaptive Joystick ships with a lengthy and high quality braided USB cable, if I were playing my living room Xbox Series X from my sofa, I don’t know how comfortable I would feel trailing these cables all the way across the room during play. I do believe there is a market of people who would, if a slightly more premium version of this joystick were offered with wireless connectivity, be happy to purchase this device at that slightly increased price. Cable management of this nature can be a cognitive accessibility barrier, and make using a controller like this feel like less of an appealing option.
That said, there is an optional way to use the Xbox Adaptive Joystick as a pseudo wireless controller solution, albeit with an additional cost attached.
I’ve been spending most of this past week using a pair of Xbox Adaptive Joysticks connected by cables to an Xbox Adaptive Controller as my primary method of playing Xbox games. The Xbox Adaptive Controller is able to connect to my Xbox console wirelessly, preventing cable trawl across the room, and limiting cabling so that I’m tethered to a large modular input on my lap rather than directly to the console.
As I’ve talked about previously on this channel, I really value split handed controller options when gaming. Due to hand pain and muscle fatigue, I find playing games using a static controller where my hands need to be near each other during play difficult in extended play sessions, and really value being able to comfortably move my hands into separate positions, as well as reposition them during play.
While I think I would struggle to use a pair of Xbox Adaptive Joysticks by themselves as an Xbox Controller replacement if directly cabled to the console itself, with an Xbox Adaptive Controller available to centre my setup around, I really love the setup that I’ve landed on.
When each Xbox Adaptive Joystick is plugged into the Xbox Adaptive Controller’s Left or Right USB joystick port, it automatically defaults to replicating the button configuration of the matching half of a standard Xbox controller. For example, when plugged into the left port, it maps to the left analogue stick, L1 and L2, and the four face buttons representing a D-Pad. While these default mappings can be customised, it does make setup a breeze if you’re just looking to emulate half of a controller on a one handed input device.
However, near the start of this video I mentioned that a pair of Xbox Adaptive Joysticks features almost all of the inputs found on a standard Xbox controller, but not quite all of them. Missing from the setup by default is access to the Xbox home button, as well as start and select button functionality. This isn’t a huge issue if you’re, like me, connecting to an Xbox Adaptive Controller, but it does mean you’ll still need a standard Xbox controller as part of your setup if you’re using the Adaptive Joystick without an Adaptive Controller as a modular base.
While I understand the desire to keep costs for the Adaptive Joystick as low as possible, including two additional buttons below the x3 button, similar to the placement of the 1 and 2 buttons at the bottom of a Wii Remote, would have allowed players to create setups with a pair of Adaptive Joysticks that didn’t need to rely on an additional controller to access those final few function buttons.
That said, with these limitations acknowledged, the Xbox Adaptive Joystick truly has become transformative in how I play Xbox games, as someone who values comfortable split handed controls when gaming. I recognise that I would be a lot less positive if not for already owning an Xbox Adaptive Controller, and that the price of that controller base needs factoring into my praise, but I can’t overstate how well the setup works for me. Having a couple of large programmable buttons on my lap, and my hands free to move and reorient themselves separate from each other, is incredibly comfortable and natural. I almost feel like a mech pilot, with my control panel in front of me and ancillary controls split into each hand. The setup feels more akin to using a specialised vehicle panel controller peripheral than a traditional accessibility controller, and the fact that I feel that fantasy more than I feel conscious of using an accessibility focused input device is a really nice association to have with a device that is there to assist me with being disabled.
A wireless version of the Xbox adaptive Joystick with a couple of extra buttons would be fantastic as a more expensive alternative configuration to offer – Being able to replace a standard controller fully using just a pair of wireless adaptive joysticks I do believe would be really appealing to a number of users. As much as I commend Xbox for getting the price this low for the wired version, there are users who I think would opt into a variant that trades a slight price increase for a slight usability improvement. I wouldn’t want that to replace this cheaper wired version, but think it would be valuable option to coexist with.
But, as someone who has spent years looking for a comfortable and affordable split handed control option to use on Xbox consoles, a pair of Adaptive Joysticks connected to an Xbox Adaptive Controller has 100% become my new default way to play Xbox games, and I don’t see myself turning back any time soon.
While there are truly wireless options out there for split handed play on Xbox, such as the Byowave Proteus Controller, I find it hard to deny that the price and comfort here are top notch on Xbox’s first party offering. Even if you end up purchasing an Xbox Adaptive Controller to use as a wireless base module this is still a cheaper setup option than a Proteus controller and an additional USB dongle would be by quite a wide margin. The Proteus obviously had advantages in terms of its impressive customizability potential, but if your main aim is an affordable and comfortable split handed solution with optional wireless connection to your Xbox console, I do believe this is the right setup that I would default to recommending.
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