Is Mercury in retrograde over Brazil? Because sources there are giving Xbox a very hard time today. Brazilian regulator Anatel appears to have accidentally leaked images of the Xbox Elite Controller 3 that were then circulated by local tech site Tecnoblog and in turn picked up by The Verge.
According to the specs making the rounds, this controller boasts some notable new features. There are two scroll wheels at the bottom that could be controlled by your thumbs. A new pairing button on the front appears to switch the device between local and cloud modes. The D-pad also has been redesigned, and the gamepad seems to at long last be switching over to a removable, rechargeable battery.
Tecnoblog
If this story sounds familiar, it is. Tecnoblog also published leaked images of a different Xbox peripheral earlier today. That story showed off a pint-sized gamepad that was presumed to be an unreleased Xbox Cloud Gaming controller.
It has been awhile since Xbox released a refresh to the Elite controller. The second generation of the hardware debuted back in 2019, and it became customizable in the Design Lab in 2022. And since at least one national regulator is currently looking at the device, it seems likely that the product is close to hitting store shelves. Xbox’s big summer showcase is just a few weeks away, but after today’s leak fest, Microsoft might be inclined to make the official announcement sooner than later.