The Microsoft Xbox controller is now selling via the Apple website, in select markets where Apple retails directly and not via third party channels. While this excludes India from the list of countries where interested parties can buy the Xbox controller from Apple's own website, it is likely that Apple will bring it to its offline stores and third party retailer stores as well. The move comes after Apple added support for the Xbox controller to a range of its devices for playing on Apple Arcade, which include all products running on iOS 13, iPadOS 13, tvOS 13 and macOS Catalina.
While the latest round of Apple updates also brought with itself support for Sony's DualShock 4 gaming controller, the latter has not been added to Apple's website, yet. Reports from USA state that the Microsoft Xbox controller is presently on sale at $60 (~Rs 4,300) on the Apple website, which is its official retail price. However, it remains to be seen if Apple does manage to sell any of the controllers from its own site, seeing how the Xbox controllers are often available in a wider range of colour choices and discounts, in online platforms such as Amazon. In India, the Xbox controller can be bought for as low as Rs 3,800 on Flipkart, at the time of publishing this piece.
The addition of controllers come as Apple looks to rake in more subscribers to its new gaming platform, Apple Arcade. Rolled out in the App Store itself, Arcade costs just Rs 99 per month for a family membership, and offers subscribers access to hundreds of video games that may have otherwise cost quite some money to buy. Alongside giving users a way to experience paid games without needing to pay a large sum, Apple Arcade also ensures a higher stream of revenue for Apple originating from the App Store, which may prove vital for the company as it looks to gradually shift away from hardware-driven revenues to a services-driven model.
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