color, materials, finish

Xbox
Special Editions

Designing for the Superfan
color, materials, finish

For nearly five years, Tactile has partnered with the Xbox ID team to design limited edition consoles and controllers. Often, these products are for games with huge fan bases, so our mission is to design with as much authenticity as possible. There’s no faking it. The designer must become the fan. Our expertise in color, material, and finish development results in products

that feel like they fell right out of the game. We work closely with Xbox ID, engineers and manufacturing partners to push the very limits of the CMF industry. When two major brands—Xbox and the major game titles—share the same stage, both integrity and performance are paramount.

Strategy and Approach

We worked closely with Xbox ID and game developers to bring the very soul and passion of the games to the devices that control them. This is our opportunity to say thank you to the fans, and create something they would love—something they would wait in line for—and we take that very seriously.

So we delved into the research. We interviewed gamers, we immersed ourselves in the culture, and we often play early cuts of the games for hours ourselves. The developers poured years of passion into single game titles, and we get to bring that passion to life.

It’s in the Details

Every detail—no matter how small—is painstakingly refined by hand. There’s an art to making a one-of-a-kind concept that retains its magic when mass produced. And we’ve perfected that art

through continual iteration, from kickoff to the factory floor. It takes a team of designers, engineers, and manufacturing partners to align on a single vision.

For the Fans

We’re inspired by the passionate community that knows their stuff. Pro-gamers. Cosplayers. The “Cons.” Unboxing enthusiasts. We take the work seriously enough to satisfy both the studio heads and the gamers themselves. Because we, too, are the fans. And we love what we do.

Design

Concepts are derived from the games themselves, the storylines and game elements inspiring the design. And rather than letting manufacturing constraints limit us, we create opportunities to do the unexpected.

Ideas that
Scale

We work closely with our partners at Xbox to develop products that are inspired by the gaming community, pop culture, global trends in CMF, and the ever-expanding manufacturing capabilities at our disposal. Color pallets, patterns, and themes are all looked at as ideas that scale across an array of products. Nothing is one size fits all in gaming.