Xbox Controllers Have Been Shipping Without Batteries For Months, But Microsoft Is Finally Compensating People
Summary
Microsoft has acknowledged that it accidentally released some Xbox controllers without included batteries. To make up for it, Microsoft is offering up compensation in the form of a free rechargeable battery as opposed to the standard AA batteries it should have come with.
This mishap impacted only a "limited number" of controllers, Microsoft said, and this has been going on since December 2025. Anyone who received an Xbox controller without batteries can visit this website to fill out a form to request a free rechargeable battery.
If you lost your original receipt, that's OK, as the registration process involves adding the unique serial number to Microsoft's website for validation. The affected controllers include newer Xbox wireless controllers and some Xbox Design Lab controllers.
Microsoft has acknowledged that it accidentally released some Xbox controllers without included batteries. To make up for it, Microsoft is offering up compensation in the form of a free rechargeable battery as opposed to the standard AA batteries it should have come with.
This mishap impacted only a "limited number" of controllers, Microsoft said, and this has been going on since December 2025. Anyone who received an Xbox controller without batteries can visit this website to fill out a form to request a free rechargeable battery.
If you lost your original receipt, that's OK, as the registration process involves adding the unique serial number to Microsoft's website for validation. The affected controllers include newer Xbox wireless controllers and some Xbox Design Lab controllers.
If you are eligible, you'll receive an Xbox rechargeable battery + USB-C cable (which normally sells for $25), with a limit of one rechargeable battery per eligible controller.
"All controllers moving forward will include batteries," Microsoft said.
Xbox controllers come with two AA batteries from Duracell, and some people buy into the conspiracy theory that Microsoft has not switched to an internal rechargeable setup because Duracell is paying Microsoft. This theory gained traction in 2021 when a Duracell employee said the battery company and Microsoft had a co-marketing deal in place to promote Duracell's batteries.
For its part, Microsoft has said it offers a variety of charging setups for Xbox controllers as a means to give players options instead of locking them into internal rechargeable batteries only. What's more, Microsoft said years ago that, in the research and polling process, the company found that people by and large prefer to use AA batteries over rechargeables that are native to a specific device.
Microsoft is working on a new console, Project Helix, but it remains to be seen what kind of new controller it may use, or what kind of battery setup it could have.
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