Xbox controllers will no longer come with a proprietary expansion port — known as the Chatpad port to many players — if all three of the recent signs are to be believed.
First, reports are rolling in on social media that the new Forza Horizon 6 gamepad doesn’t include a connection point for Xbox accessories, and the space where the port used to be is visible but plugged up. Second, last week’s leaked images of the coming Xbox Elite Controller Series 3 show no signs of an expansion port. And third, a small line of text was added to the Xbox Wireless Controller store page in April that says, “Not all versions of this controller include an expansion port.” This note was not in the Internet Archive’s cache of the page dated March 31, 2026.
In case you’re not one for signs, we’ve also contacted Xbox for clarification on the change.
The apparent discontinuation isn’t a complete surprise, considering Xbox hasn’t produced a meaningful accessory for the expansion port since the dawn of the current console generation. The port’s major claim to fame was the Chatpad, which landed with the Xbox 360 but was most beloved in the Xbox One era as online console gaming found its footing, and players were itching for quick ways to communicate with teammates and adjust settings on the fly. On top of its duties as a quick-access keyboard with programmable buttons, the Chatpad fit snugly in the nook of the Xbox Wireless Controller and added a satisfying weightiness to its bottom half. Plenty of users came to prefer the feel of the controller with the Chatpad, even.
This single accessory became a unique selling point for Xbox One gamepads in particular, helping to solidify Microsoft as the leader of the controller market in the 2010s. The company also produced the Stereo Headset Adapter for the Xbox One, which had some useful shortcut keys, and toyed around with charging accessories that made use of its proprietary connection point.
And then, Microsoft stopped paying attention to the expansion port. By 2019, it was clear that the Chatpad had been quietly discontinued, though Xbox never made an official announcement. Its latest living room hardware, the Xbox Series X and Series S, landed in November 2020 alongside a line of freshly designed controllers, all with built-in expansion ports on their bottoms. Xbox didn’t dwell on the port (or even mention it) in marketing materials, and there’s been no whisper of revamped keyboards, headset adapters, chargers or other accessories this generation.
It’s a surprising miss not only because Xbox had a winning accessory on its hands with the Chatpad, but also because Microsoft doesn’t mind messing around with weird and cutting-edge consumer hardware. These are the folks who forced video game fans to interact with the Kinect (twice!), and today Xbox is a leader in accessibility hardware with the extremely rad Adaptive Controller and its ever-growing suite of accessories, courtesy of Microsoft’s Inclusive Tech Lab.
From one perspective, the Xbox controller has simply and naturally outgrown the expansion port. The inclusion of a 3.5mm jack for stereo headsets negates the need for a standalone adapter, and there’s a keyboard function in the Xbox app that lets players type live in-game. From another angle, Xbox is letting a point of innovation die at a time when it’s losing the broader hardware game. As companies like Nintendo have demonstrated — and Microsoft certainly understands well — there’s money to be made in selling offbeat, exclusive gaming accessories at lowkey-ridiculous prices. With the expansion port, Xbox had the foundation to add usability and whimsy to an already-successful gamepad empire, but with today’s news of closed expansion ports, that pipeline may be sealed for good.
