I had no interest in Google Stadia as a gaming platform but I did want that controller. Problem was, the cost was way out of my justified price bracket so I waited until they had a £20 sale and I snapped one up… and then they announced the shut down a few months later. What was I going to do with the controller now?
Thankfully, there’s a solution. A Google rep also announced that they would be releasing a tool to unlock the controller’s Bluetooth functionality, meaning it wouldn’t be tied to a defunct platform anymore. As Hackaday pointed out, this makes sense from an e-waste perspective (we don’t want thousands of controllers buried in the desert now do we, heh heh!)
I’m not going to praise Google too much for this decision. It should be a bare minimum for all companies that fly too close to the sun, in an area where they had no prior stronghold. I’m just glad I can use my favourite controller on other systems. It’s been gathering dust for months.
