Microsoft’s New Xbox Wireless Adapter Goes on Sale

As promised, Microsoft is finally opening up sales of its new Xbox Wireless Adapter. Back in August of last year, the company announced the new Xbox Wireless Adapter, promising an official release a few weeks later. But plans changed and the company delayed the release by around 6 months.

Today, the company started selling the new Xbox Wireless Adapter on the Microsoft Store for $24.99, as first spotted by The Verge. The new Xbox Wireless Adapter is actually 66% smaller than the previous generation and is capable of supporting up to 8 controllers simultaneously, 2 headsets with stereo, and 4 regular headsets. The new adapter isn’t really useful if you already own a Surface device that comes with integrated Xbox Wireless support like the Surface Book 2 or Surface Studio, however.

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday — and get free copies of Paul Thurrott's Windows 11 and Windows 10 Field Guides (normally $9.99) as a special welcome gift!

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Microsoft is selling a standalone version of the adapter, though you can get it with an Xbox Wireless Controller as a bundle for $79.95. Stocks are likely limited, so get one quick before it runs out.

Tagged with

Share post

Please check our Community Guidelines before commenting

Conversation 10 comments

  • Brazbit

    01 February, 2018 - 4:54 pm

    <p>Leaving "for Windows" off the name of the product makes a difference. It wasn't until about halfway through the article that I finally figured out that this was for Windows PCs. I was confused about what kind of wireless adapter Xbox would need after they started building Wi-Fi into the console. . </p>

    • skane2600

      01 February, 2018 - 5:19 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#242261"><em>In reply to Brazbit:</em></a></blockquote><p>IMO, the name "Xbox" should only refer to "the Box", its accessories, or games that were specifically designed to run on it.</p>

      • scotttech1

        06 February, 2018 - 9:49 am

        <blockquote><a href="#242270"><em>In reply to skane2600:</em></a><em> but in this case this adapter allows you to use an accessory (The Controller) from the Xbox on your PC so it does kind of refer to an accessory for "the Box"</em></blockquote><p><br></p>

    • mikentosh

      Premium Member
      01 February, 2018 - 7:13 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#242261"><em>In reply to Brazbit:</em></a><em>I, too, was confused. I had to dig into the store link to satisfy my curiosity. </em></blockquote><p><br></p>

    • thea2_

      Premium Member
      01 February, 2018 - 10:31 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#242261"><em>In reply to Brazbit:</em></a></blockquote><p>Wondering how this is an improvement over the old version, maybe it will actually have drivers that work with win 10 pro 64?</p>

      • scotttech1

        06 February, 2018 - 9:51 am

        <blockquote><a href="#242302"><em>In reply to thea2_:</em></a></blockquote><p>I think part of the reason it was redesigned was that it was too wide before and would block most secondary (and tertiary) ports on either side of the one being used by the adapter, this one is slimmer and should not block those other ports beside this USB port</p>

  • davidabitbol

    01 February, 2018 - 5:52 pm

    <p>Now if only they had a Bluetooth adapter for the Xbox which can support wireless headsets…</p>

  • rbwatson0

    Premium Member
    02 February, 2018 - 11:28 am

    <p>So why would I need one of these when most computers have Bluetooth or you can buy a Bluetooth dongle for a lot less? Does it enable some features that I am forgetting (probably)?</p>

    • IanYates82

      Premium Member
      03 February, 2018 - 7:25 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#242371"><em>In reply to rbwatson0:</em></a></blockquote><p>It works with the proprietary wireless protocol rather than Bluetooth so should be faster and (guessing) support the other controller features like headsets.</p><p><br></p><p>I also think that the original Xbox one controllers didn't support Bluetooth.</p>

  • cawfehman

    05 February, 2018 - 10:51 am

    <blockquote><a href="#242881"><em>In reply to tomzen:</em></a></blockquote><p>Thank you, went to the link in the article and thought it didn't look 66% smaller… something must be wrong… </p><p><br></p><p>Saved me some aggravation.</p>

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Thurrott © 2024 Thurrott LLC