Xbox Design Lab Makes a Comeback After Six-Month Hiatus — Here's What's New

Well, that was unexpected.

After writing an article just a few hours ago complaining that the Xbox Design Lab was offline for over a half a year with no real explanation, Microsoft just announced on X with a slick trailer that it has fully returned.

For those who don't know, the Xbox Design Lab is a website store that lets you customize Xbox controllers with all sorts of features, textures, colors, and even skins.

The Xbox Design Lab has been a popular addition to the overall Xbox ecosystem since it launched, and I have used it personally to buy gifts for friends and family many 'a time over the years. It's now fully live again in all the regions it was available in previously, complete with a couple of new color ways to boot.

Using the Xbox Design Lab, you can build both standard Xbox Series X|S custom controllers as well as Xbox Elite Controller Series 2 models. There are custom skins for both Fallout and Call of Duty available right now, but there's also a range of colored translucent shells which look absolutely fantastic too.

After you've designed your controller, the store calculates the overall price and you can go through to purchasing.

The Xbox Design Lab was previously offline for several months as Microsoft "moved payment processor," which led to speculation that it was either being taken offline eventually or perhaps even being prepared for new upcoming Xbox controllers I previously reported on.

Does it really take several months, over a half a year in fact, to move payment processor? I'm not sure, but whatever the true cause, it's great to see it return in full, especially as a controller junkie.

Will the Xbox Gear Shop return next?

This morning, people began to notice that the Xbox Gear Shop is also offline. The Xbox Gear Shop sells merchandise for the Xbox brand as well as other Microsoft properties, for everything from Minecraft to State of Decay. It's unclear exactly how long it has been offline for, but hopefully it won't be as long as the Xbox Design Lab's lengthy half-year break.

Microsoft has a growing array of merchandising operations under Xbox since it began acquiring other studios. Bethesda, Blizzard, Minecraft, and Microsoft itself all operate different retail arms for all kinds of merchandising opportunities. Whether it's accessories, clothing, gifts, or high-end collectibles. The Blizzard Store is particularly popular, and has warehouses set up across the world for merchandising games like Diablo, World of Warcraft, and Overwatch.

I speculated that Microsoft may be looking to consolidate some of its retail operations into a single entity, but it could also be something as simple as "moving payment processor," although we don't yet have a statement on what's going on with the Xbox Gear Store, nor is there any ETA on the website about how long it'll be down for.

Either way, it's great that the Xbox Design Lab has returned finally. The holiday season is coming up, and custom colored and engraved Xbox controllers are a great gift option for that gamer in your life.

Microsoft is thought to be working on an array of new controllers for its next-gen Xbox hardware ecosystem, which will include a successor console to the high-end Xbox Series X, as well as OEM devices like the upcoming Xbox Ally. Hopefully, we'll see new devices join the Xbox Design Lab in the future. I wouldn't say no to having Xbox consoles themselves in the Xbox Design Lab either.

Have you used the Xbox Design Lab before? Let us know in the comments.