14 Excellent Gifts for Xbox Gamers

These slick cans are our pick for the best Xbox gaming headset. They're incredibly comfortable, have great mic quality, and can wirelessly sync to an Xbox One or Xbox Series X/S as easily as you pair a controller. They can also connect to your phone via Bluetooth, so you can pipe in some tunes.

The new Xbox Series S and X have incredibly fast read and write speeds that tear up even normal SSD drives you can buy. To get an expansion that can load your games as quick as you expect, you'll want the Seagate Storage Expansion Card. It's specifically designed to fit in a slot on the Xbox. This upgrade is especially vital if you own a Series S, since it comes with only 512 GB of storage. Sadly, by the time you upgrade, you'll have spent more than you would have getting a Series X.

★ Xbox One owners: This 4-TB hard drive is made to plug right into the Xbox One via USB 3.0 and can hold 100 or so games. It doesn’t need a power cable, making it convenient to plug and play or to carry to a friend’s house. If you don't need 4 TB, there are smaller storage options to choose from for less.

The nice thing about PC gamepads is that they're usually compatible with Xbox, and the Scuf Prestige is no exception. This is a well-built controller, with a matte black finish and grippy underside. It feels like a premium gaming accessory. It also has a number of features that set it apart from its competitors.

There are four paddles that can be mapped to 14 different controller functions. The paddles themselves are like hair triggers that rest right beneath your fingers, so you don't need to adjust your grip at all to use them. They come in handy in games like Destiny 2 and Overwatch, when you have to juggle class abilities.

This is about the most compact charging station you can get, and it's way slicker than having cords dangling all over the place. Everything about it is designed for ease of access. A suction cup on the bottom keeps the base from sliding around, and the controllers snap on magnetically for quick de- and re-attachment. Lights on the station indicate when the controllers have fully recharged. In a particularly nice touch, the ambient glow on the base adjusts its brightness automatically depending on the light in the room.

This sleek machine is designed to offer a wide variety of options for gamers who may not be able to comfortably use a traditional gamepad. The Adaptive Controller deconstructs all the inputs in a gamepad, then lays them out in a way so anyone can create a controller that works for them.

Games are for everyone, and this controller does a hell of a job ensuring that anyone can play Xbox and PC games. The Adaptive Controller is just the base station, though. It's compatible with a number of buttons, switches, and foot controls that plug into it, letting you customize your gamepad down to the smallest detail.

If you haven’t yet seen anything of interest, you officially have someone who’s hard to shop for. Our recommendation: Buy them a gift card for the value of a game. $60 covers the price of most new titles, and they can choose whatever suits their fancy.

With a 120-Hz refresh rate and 3,800 lumens for peak brightness, this projector is great for gaming without a TV. It also has a short throw, meaning it can project a wider picture from a shorter distance. You can get a 100-inch image with the projector just 3.5 feet away from the screen. Just note that its resolution maxes out at 1080p. That should be enough for many people, but it's not as crisp as the 4K pixel resolution most TVs come with these days.

You can find our picks for the best projectors here.

Without Halo, there might not even be an Xbox anymore. Released alongside the first console in 2001, Halo: Combat Evolved spawned one of the most popular video game series of all time. Now players can don the gigantic green armor of the iconic hero, Master Chief, in this package of all the main Halo games. The earliest titles have been remastered to match the graphical glory of their contemporaries.

As far as subscription services go, this one is pretty comprehensive. Your gift recipient will get access to Xbox Live, the console’s multiplayer platform that allows gamers to play online games. Also, they’ll be able to play more than 100 games on both the Xbox and PC, if they so choose. If you snag it this holiday season, Microsoft is throwing in six months of Spotify Premium for good measure.

There’s nothing like an adorable rubber ducky to convey the chaotic nature of Borderlands 3. Fans of the looter-shooter series will coo over this adorably disturbing rendition of one of the game’s most iconic characters. There are a whole host of other duck designs, should you be inspired to present your recipient with a full armada of cute quacks.

Like an episode of The X-Files on a bad acid trip, this mind-bending thriller is as strange as it is fun to play. Players will embark on a twisty journey through an ever shifting, increasingly disturbing building as they battle shadowy forces that can bend reality itself. In her review, WIRED’s Julie Muncy called the game “a paranoiac's dream come to life.” Plus, it works on both the Xbox One and Xbox Series X.

This ostentatious necklace will give your favorite Xbox gamer a way to flaunt their fandom. We’re not saying this gift is for everyone, but it is without a doubt something you can pay money for.