The Backbone Pro controller has a Bluetooth connectivity, making it easy to play games on any … More screen.

Backbone

The makers of my favorite mobile gaming controller are back with a new model that’s designed to be used with pretty much any screen you can play games on (and a nifty Severance-inspired announcement trailer). Like the Backbone One, you can still dock your phone in the middle of the Backbone Pro with a physical USB-C connection for zero-latency mobile gaming.

But this new model, which costs $170, has plenty more tricks up its sleeve. Backbone hopes that this will be the only controller you need to play games outside of PlayStation, Xbox or Nintendo consoles (it doesn’t work with those, unfortunately).

The big new thing with the Backbone Pro is that it has a wireless mode. You can connect it to phones without having to dock them in the middle of the controller, as well as tablets, laptops, desktop PCs, smart TVs and even virtual reality headsets like the Meta Quest and Apple Vision Pro.

Backbone says that its FlowState tech allows the company’s mobile app to remember the devices you’ve previously paired the controller with. You can reconnect to any of those with a tap and avoid having to go through the tedious manual Bluetooth re-pairing process.

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“Today, there are hundreds of millions of game controllers in the world, but they’re all designed to work primarily with a single console — and then slowly adapted to work elsewhere. That model hasn’t changed much, even as the way people play games has completely shifted,” Backbone said in a press release.

“High-fidelity gaming on phones and cloud gaming — the ability to stream games from the cloud just like streaming music and TV — are growing fast, and more people are playing across platforms than ever before. Backbone Pro is designed for that world.”

Backbone founder and CEO Maneet Khaira told me that the battery should run for about 40 hours on a single charge. As with the Backbone One, the latest controller offers passthrough charging for devices that are plugged into its USB-C port. Through a feature called parallel charging, you can charge your phone and Backbone Pro controller simultaneously. The Backbone Pro can intelligently siphon a little power from your phone when it needs to, so you may not ever have to charge the controller by itself.

As with its predecessor, you can dock a phone in the middle of the Backbone Pro.

Backbone
Backbone Pro Input Customization

Also new this time around are two programmable rear buttons, which the likes of Fortnite mobile players could use for fast structure building. The Backbone Pro also has full-size joysticks.

You can customize the inputs using the Backbone app, and you can have dedicated controller profiles for specific devices or games. There are built-in safeguards to prevent you from accidentally locking yourself out from using the controller if you customize the inputs in an odd way.

The app is also designed as a hub for all your various mobile gaming options, from cloud gaming services and remote play options (such as those for PlayStation, Xbox and Steam) to games you’ve downloaded from the App Store or Google Play Store. The intention is for you to have a unified library that feels like a streaming TV interface.

The retro games emulator in the Backbone app.

Backbone

Subscribers to the Backbone+ service (which costs $40 per year) get access to extra features, including a rotating library of games.

There’s also a built-in “super emulator” for retro games, but you’ll need to procure and install your own (legally acquired) ROMs. When you move the Backbone app to the background, your retro gaming session will be saved automatically. The Backbone Pro supports emulators that are available in mobile app stores too.

Developing The Backbone Pro

It took Backbone three years and a ton of iteration to develop the Backbone Pro. The team (which includes folks who have worked at Apple and on Google Stadia) went through more than 9,000 part iterations. It also conducted more than 30 research studies that employed 360-degree video cameras to record thousands of hours of gameplay and analyze hand movements to help with optimization.

The Backbone Pro is designed to work on any screen, including virtual reality headsets.

Backbone

There are three circuit boards on each side of the controller, and the rear buttons wrap around the battery to make the most efficient use of space. And yet, even with the changes, including the addition of batteries, the Backbone Pro weighs 199 grams (about the same as console controllers) and it’s only a little thicker than the Backbone One.

The goal, Khaira told me, was to make the ergonomics of full-sized controllers available in as small a form factor as possible. The balance and weight of the device were important factors. Part of the design and revision process included shaving down parts by microns to meet that goal. Oh, and there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack. Glad that’s still around.

Backbone Pro

Backbone
Backbone Pro Impressions

Backbone sent me a review unit, but I haven’t had a chance to fully put the Backbone Pro through its paces, unfortunately. I’m planning to write a full review.

For now, I’ll say that it feels like a clear upgrade on the Backbone One, especially when it comes to tactility and functionality. So far, being able to use the same controller for both my phone and Apple TV means I don’t need to have other gamepads cluttering my nightstand and I appreciate that.

I haven’t been able to try out one especially cool feature that Khaira demoed for me. When you’re playing in wireless mode and want to switch to your phone (perhaps someone else in your home wants to watch something on the TV you were using), there’s an option to do that seamlessly via Xbox Cloud Gaming. In other words, you can dock your phone, fire up the Backbone app and, with a single tap, continue playing in the same instance. You don’t have to wait to reconnect to Xbox’s servers. To make this work, you’ll need to link your Backbone and Xbox accounts.

Backbone Pro Price And Availability

The Backbone Pro is available to order now from the Backbone website. The controller costs $169.99.

For more gaming news, analysis and insight on things beyond the Backbone Pro controller, as well as word game guides, follow my blog! It helps me out a lot. Also, subscribe to my newsletter, Pastimes!