Google offers its own controller for the Stadia gaming platform, which is available in a small selection of different colors. A completely transparent controller has recently appeared on eBay, which has never made it onto the market in this form and is, therefore, a real rarity. The controller was only given away internally, but thanks to numerous photos we can now take a closer look at it.
Stadia can be used with many different controllers and is not dependent on the Google controller, but most gamers should still use the original. The controller is available individually in black, white or wasabi. At the start, there was the controller in the Founders Edition in the color “Night Blue”, which was kept exclusive and will no longer be offered in the future.
There was another variant, which was only distributed internally to the Stadia team: Transparent. In fact, the controller that was given away at the time was largely milky-transparent and allowed a glimpse of the inside. But that wasn’t quite as exciting, because the controller that was given away was functionless and had neither a battery nor a rumble motor, and many cables were also removed for this decorative piece of video game history.
Such a controller was recently offered on eBay, which was functionally prepared by the seller. The missing components were added from a normal Stadia controller and the decorative stand was also included. Just look at the following pictures of the transparent controller, which is probably a one-off in this form.
The controller was sold for $1000. Actually not much for such a collector’s item. While there are probably hundreds more transparent controllers out there, most of the Stadia developers involved at the time will either cherish this one or don’t need to sell it for a few hundred dollars.
In addition, these are just not functional and would first have to be upgraded. Incidentally, the controller was not upgraded with just any Stadia controller, but with parts from the Founders Edition. Technically, this makes no difference at all, but it ensures that the Founders logo can be seen on Stadia.
Launch Team Exclusive Clear Stadia Controller (Working). As most know, this was released as a gift to the launch team members. They were not functional and just meant to be display pieces. I have taken it apart and placed it in the Founders Edition controller’s brains inside.
This means this display piece is now fully functioning with charging, vibrations, and connectivity and will appear as a Founders Edition on Stadia, keeping it as special as possible. This is a collector’s item and will likely never be on the market again.