ByoWave Proteus controller

On paper, the ByoWave Proteus controller sounds like a perfect setup for a failed Kickstarter. A small team makes an attempt at a very ambitious first product, fails to deliver at all or delivers some severely cut down version of it after years of delay. Except in this case there was no Kickstarter and they didn't fail. This post is a random collection of thoughts and facts about the controller, presented in the hope that it might be useful to someone trying to decide if it's the right solution for them. All my experiences are with the as-of-now-current V2 edition of the controller.

You probably already know what it is if you're reading this, but let's start with a quick recap of the premise. The ByoWave Proteus controller is a modular game controller with a strong focus on accessibility. The idea is that you can build different controller shapes with it to match your individual needs. It consists of a number of rounded cubes that can be connected together, either directly or using additional spacer elements. There are two types of cubes: the power cube, which has a battery and is responsible for the wireless connection to your computer or console, and the analog stick cube, which looks the same except one face has an analog stick on it. Buttons and triggers are attached to the faces of the cubes. There's a four button attachment (ABXY and Xbox system buttons), a one button attachment, a d-pad attachment, a bumper/trigger attachment and a small analog stick attachment. It also comes with grip attachments that can be used for building traditional controller shapes.

The Proteus controller uses the Xbox One controller protocol (it is an officially licensed Xbox product) so out of the box it's compatible with Xbox One and Series consoles and Windows PCs. It also works on Linux if you have a recent enough (6.16+) kernel and it does work on the Steam Deck. It comes with a wireless dongle and the dongle is the only way it connects to the host. It does not have Bluetooth and it does not work wired (though it requires a wired USB connection to the PC for configuration, more on that below). You can use adapters to make it work with other consoles like the PS5, Switch or Switch 2.

The packaging it comes in is very nice and I'm definitely keeping it for storing modules that are currently not on my controler. The controller itself also just looks cool, which is perhaps not as important as whether it works well, but I think it's good that some effort went into it. Accessibility oriented controllers shouldn't have to look like hospital equipment. I like the snap-on covers with various playful designs.

It comes with two power cubes, which lets you use the kit to build two separate controllers (perhaps for a split configuration), but the wireless dongle can only talk to one controller at a time and the kit only comes with one wireless dongle, so to actually use it like that you'd have to buy an additional wireless dongle. Once you do you can use the "Assist" function on Xbox and Windows to make the two controllers work as one. I assume there's some technical reason why a single dongle can't talk to two power cubes simultaneously, but if would be really awesome if it could: split configurations make a lot of sense for a lot of people.

In addition to working as an Xbox controller ("GIP mode"), the controller can also emulate a mouse/keyboard combo ("HID mode"), which works on any platform that supports mice and keyboards. In this mode you can also define macros (strings of inputs) executed with a single button press.

The cubes and attachments come with default functions and you can build various configurations without ever having to use the configuration utility, just by disconnecting and reconnecting the modules to achieve different controller shapes. Which, by the way, you can do on the fly, without having to power down or disconnect the controller. But of course at some point you might want to change the default functions. This is done through a web application that connects to the controller over USB via the charging module. The charging module is just an attachment with a USB port and, as the name suggests, it's also used to charge the batteries inside the power cubes. Please note this USB connection is separate from the wireless dongle (which also plugs into a USB port of course). This means that when you're configuring your controller you might have both the dongle and another USB cable plugged into your PC. But this also means that you can plug the dongle into a different machine. So for example you can plug the dongle into your Xbox console while also having the controller connected to your PC using a USB cable. That way you can reconfigure it live and see the effects immediately in game.

The web based configuration utility uses WebHID to connect to the controller so it only works in the desktop version of Chrome (and possibly other Chrome-based browsers like Edge). Windows, Linux and Mac versions of Chrome are all fine. I love that this has now become the standard for configuring devices like this. Boo Firefox and Safari for not supporting WebHID.

Inside the configuration utility you can remap the buttons, sticks and triggers and switch between controller and keyboard/mouse modes. It shows a 3D view of your current controller shape and it updates live, which I think is a really nice touch. You can do most things you would expect, like change the "up" direction on the sticks, which is necessary given all the different ways you can put the modules together. Though there are still things that it lacks, for example even though it has a "shift" functionality, letting you assign a separate function to buttons when a certain button is held, this cannot be done in a "toggle" manner, enabling the shifted functions permanently without having to hold that button. ByoWave keeps adding new features so if there's some specific thing that you need for your setup, it's best to check as reviews written near the launch might not have all the current information.

The hardware itself seems robust, the modules connect securely and don't look like like they'll fall apart. But I haven't used it enough to speak about long-term durability.

I noticed that it takes 15+ seconds for the controller to connect to the wireless dongle once you turn it on. It's not a huge issue, but I'm used to other devices that connect immediately.

As I mentioned, the entire point of the controller is that you can build it in various shapes to suit your needs. An important aspect of that is that you don't have to use all the modules at all times. If the game you're playing only requires one analog stick and one or two buttons, you can build a configuration that only has those, that you can better use with one hand for example (in other words, it scales down nicely). That said, any given configuration you come up with will probably not be as good as a non-modular controller that was designed to have this shape from the start. If all you want to build is a PlayStation-controller-shaped controller then you're probably better of getting a PlayStation controller. Of couse, the whole point is that most shapes you can build with the Proteus are not available to buy off the shelf.

In addition to the modules the controller comes with, ByoWave designed and published files for 3D printable attachments for the controller. Using these files someone could conceivably design new shells or ways to connect the existing modules, making even more controller shapes possible. The caps on the analog sticks are also replaceable and there are some 3D printable designs for alternative caps fulfilling individual needs.

For example, I printed an attachment with an M6 thread insert and used the Proteus module as the balltop on an arcade stick lever.

Currently the Proteus controller is sold in two kits: one offers all the modules necessary to make a standard controller and the other only has a subset of the modules and comes with a one handed shell for a tabletop controller. It would be really good if the modules were available individually and I hope in the future ByoWave will let us pick and choose. Perhaps some more niche modules could be offered this way. There are signs that they're working on a motion (gyro) input module, which would be interesting (though likely hindered by the Xbox platform's lack of native support for it). I could also imagine button modules with various shapes and various actuation forces. Perhaps we could even have a module with one or more 3.5mm jacks that could be used to extend the setup with external buttons or switches, Xbox Adaptive Controller-style.

Speaking of the Xbox Adaptive Controller, the Proteus controller does not appear to work when the wireless dongle is plugged into the USB ports on the Xbox Adaptive Controller. This is somewhat weird because the XAC already knows how to talk to the Xbox Adaptive Joystick for example, which uses the same Xbox One controller protocol as the Proteus. So it would probably just be a matter of allowlisting some additional product IDs. This is not a huge issue because, as I mentioned, you can use the "Assist" function on Xbox and Windows to make two controllers work as one, so you can use it to combine the XAC and the Proteus controller into one. But if you're using the XAC as part of your Switch or PlayStation setup using adapters, or you're on Steam Deck, you don't have this option.

But on a related note, I'm happy to report that the Proteus controller works great with HID Remapper in both GIP (controller) and HID (keyboard/mouse) modes. You could make it compatible with the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 this way or enhance its functionality beyond what the Proteus can do by itself. Indeed you could also use HID Remapper to make the Proteus controller compatible with the Xbox Adaptive Controller or use it to make two Proteus controllers work as one on non-Microsoft platforms.

On the Proteus controller, the controller and keyboard/mouse modes are mutually exclusive, the controller is either in GIP mode or HID mode. First party Xbox controllers like the Xbox Adaptive Controller and the Elite controllers can be configured to send keyboard inputs while working as a controller. I wonder if this is something that ByoWave could add to the Proteus controller in the future.

I haven't done any proper performance testing with the Proteus controller. In some informal tests I have never seen it send more than 50 reports per second. This probably has consequences for input latency. Ultimately you will have to decide whether this matters to you. I doubt it makes any difference in casual play. It might make a difference for pro players, but I don't think they're the target audience here anyway.

The biggest downside for me is the lack of native PS5 compatibility. I don't know the reasons for it and I don't know what it would take to make it possible. My guess is we would need a separate wireless dongle for the PS5, which I think a lot of people would be okay with if it meant not having to deal with adapters. But there might be some bigger non-technical obstacles.

I can't tell you if the ByoWave Proteus controller will be the right fit for you, but I hope I have provided some data that will help you make an informed decision. Thanks for reading.