The Xbox Cloud Gaming Controller Is Dead, Apparently

Microsoft agreed to several big changes to appease regulators in its effort to get the blockbuster $75.4 billion deal to buy Activision Blizzard approved, including tweaks to its cloud-gaming projects. Now, more than a year later, we're still learning more about this, including a new claim from The New York Times that Microsoft canceled plans for a new Xbox controller "devoted to cloud gaming."

A spokesperson for Microsoft denied that the controller concept was abandoned due to the regulatory process, but did not provide a reason.

Microsoft never formally announced or unveiled any controller for cloud gaming, but an image of it leaked this year, prompting raised eyebrows for its... unique design.

Microsoft cut deals with a variety of companies--including Ubisoft, Nware, EE, Boosteroid, Ubitus, and Nvidia --to help mitigate concerns from the UK's Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) that Microsoft might give preferential treatment to its own cloud gaming networks.

Former Xbox CEO Phil Spencer, who led Xbox during …