“You need a controller to play this game”… help me please

Falcon26 · Sep 11, 2022

Good evening, reaching out to forums to see if anyone else had/has this issue but was able to find a fix. Starting about two weeks ago I would randomly get the “[Name], you need a controller to play this game.” pop-up message and my controller would disconnect, then automatically reconnect 3-10 seconds later. My audio in my headset has been cutting in and out frequently and the headset will disconnect along with the controller. At first it was only while I was playing Warzone, but then it started while I was playing MW multiplayer, and now it’s doing it even while I’m at the home guide. It’s gotten to the point where it’s disconnecting every 3-5 minutes consistently. Here’s my hardware and list of things I’ve tried:

Hardware

-Xbox One S

-Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2

-(2) Xbox Elite Series 2 Controllers

Things I’ve tried

-Updating Xbox controller software

-Updating Headset software and firmware

-Resetting the entire console (3 times)

-I did the OSU1 software today and it seems like it just made it worse

I know this pop-up comes when you have a mouse and keyboard connected to the console but not a controller at the same time, but I’ve NEVER had a mouse and keyboard connected. The fact that BOTH my controllers and my wireless headset (uses the same connection as the controllers to connect) are having connectivity issues and are cutting out at the same time (in and out of game) seems to be a console issue now like the hardware itself is failing. Any and all help is much appreciated, thanks.

:)

JosefLBohorquez

That’s a definitely strange fix
But I hope that definitely was the cause!

Thanks to you for sharing how it went at the end
For now, take care and happy gaming

Falcon26

I think I may have figured it out! I had my Elite controller charging stand plugged into my console for power and I think it was somehow reading it as a keyboard/mouse. I unplugged it earlier today and I haven’t ran into any issues since! If I get the error again it’ll have to be something inside the console itself. Thanks for the help

JosefLBohorquez

Hi and thanks for reaching Microsoft Xbox gamer's community. My name is Josef.
I'm an Independent Advisor and a Microsoft Xbox user like you.

Hope you're doing great today despite this FALCON26

Could be an issue with the console itself as you said. Usually installing the OSU1 file should fix that kind of problems.
In order to isolate a bit more the problem. If you try connecting the controller via cable to the console. Are you able to use it?
Or how it goes pairing the controller via Bluetooth with your phone or a windows PC?

JosefLBohorquez

Hi, thanks for the extra info.

Well, I don't like to give bad news but it seems that the connection module inside your Xbox One S is failing (or any other internal component)

If the controller is working perfectly on other devices, and if the issue persists even after performing the offline update it's a problem with the console.

The best option would be get the console inspected in your closest authorized electronic repair shop

Falcon26

Hi Josef,

I am able to use the controller wired but that kind of defeats the purpose of having wireless controllers, and I have no connection issues with it on my phone.

“You need a controller to play this game”… help me please