Speaking to
Digital Foundry, Jason Ronald – partner director of program management at Xbox – said that the split between people who want a rechargeable controller and those who prefer batteries is roughly 50/50, and so giving players a separate option to use a rechargeable battery pack if they want strikes a best of both worlds situation.
“What it comes down to is when actually talking to gamers, it’s kind of polarising and there is a strong camp that really want AAs,” he said. “So just giving flexibility is the way to please both [sets of] people… You can use a rechargeable battery pack and it works just like it does on the Elite, [but] it is a separate thing.”
It is, of course, worth mentioning that rechargeable battery pack is a separate purchase, which means those who want it have to spend extra money on it. Then again, a rechargeable controller would run the risk of having a short battery life – down the road if not right off the bat – so both options present potential issues.