The first shipments of Xbox Design Lab customized controllers were sent out last September and people have been making their own custom designs ever since. Some of those designs have proven so popular, that Microsoft is now offering Xbox Live digital currency based on their sales and hopes that that will encourage people to market their own designs to friends, family, and followers.
“When you design a controller on the platform, beyond owning it, the unique design actually becomes yours, yours to name and yours to promote — for the first time you can earn from it, we’ll even give you all the marketing tools so you can push it yourself,” said chief creative officer at a London-based Xbox advertising agency, Lauren Thompson (via Gamespot).
Although there are more than eight million color combinations available for controllers within the Xbox Design Lab, you will need to be the first person to claim a combination in order to earn anything from it. Once you do though, every time someone else buys a controller using that configuration, you’ll earn a little something for yourself. Microsoft hasn’t detailed how much designers will get per purchase, but the payment will only be redeemable on Xbox Live.
Along with giving the designers marketing tools to help encourage sales, Microsoft will pick some of the best designs to include in future marketing campaigns, though it makes no guarantees as to the number or placement of such designs. It also has yet to officially announced when this scheme will begin, though considering the announcement, it is likely to happen soon.
There has also been little word on if or when the Xbox Design Lab will be made available internationally. Currently only available within the U.S. and Canadian markets, Microsoft has said in the past that it plans to bring it to other territories, but so far it has simply said it’s not looking to do so at this time.
