Xbox creator shows design sketches of first controller

Seamus Blackley, one of the creators of the original Xbox, has released info and pictures about the development of the console. Blackley shows, among other things, prototypes of the controller and states that the Xbox would almost have been called ‘Direct X box’.

The designs that Blackley on Twitter shows date from November 1999. Two years later the Xbox actually came on the market in the US. The prototypes shown therefore bear little resemblance to what would eventually become the controller for the Xbox. The design in the sketches is reminiscent of the Dreamcast controller and Blackley indicates that the Sega console had a lot of influence at the time.

In addition to a controller with a built-in screen, the sketches seem to show a small handheld console. Microsoft has never released a handheld, and it’s unknown if there were ever any concrete plans to do so. The final design of the first Xbox controller, known as the ‘Duke’, took on a more traditional look, and there was no display.

Blackley joined Microsoft in February 1999. Initially working on DirectX, he also co-authored the initial proposal for the Xbox from which these images come. The name ‘Direct X Box’ was taken from DirectX, because it was initially intended to be a box for ‘playing graphics and sound’. He then helped put together the team that actually built the console.