Microsoft has a history of taking accessibility options seriously for gaming controllers, and that trend continues with downloadable thumbstick toppers for Xbox controllers. Being straight from the source, the 3D models should fit as well as can be expected with a minimum of fiddling. Just make sure you select the right controller model, because they are each subtly different.

The toppers themselves come in different styles, and there’s a design to fit a variety of needs, from a thumb cradle to ones intended for more serious adaptations —  the perforated X-shaped topper, for instance, is meant to anchor a custom shape molded overtop it.

Microsoft does offer a remarkably hackable adaptive controller that is meant to make it easy to integrate with other hardware, and we’ve seen it used in some truly awesome ways. But it’s nice to see an easy way to extend and adapt normal thumbsticks on regular controllers, giving people even more options.

We love to see companies offer useful 3D models of their products, saving consumers from having to 3D scan or model things themselves. It’s a form of hacker-friendly hardware design, which we celebrate when we see it, while at the same time wishing it were more common.

Have you benefited from hacker-friendly design and made something useful that wouldn’t exist otherwise? Let us know on the tips line!