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Turtle Beach has recently confirmed that the Xbox One’s headset adapter will be making its way onto the retail market in 2014, and is not only required for current-gen headsets, but new third-party headsets as well.

When both next gen consoles launch next month, neither the Xbox One or PlayStation 4 will be wholly compatible with current-gen headsets. Thanks to Microsoft’s choice in putting a different port on the Xbox One’s controller, Xbox 360 headsets won’t be compatible, and gamers will have to use an adapter to use third-party headsets with the console.

The audio firm Turtle Beach has recently confirmed that Microsoft’s adapters are coming around Q1 2014, and will be packaged with every one of their official Xbox One-branded headsets.

Beforehand, though, the firm made an interesting statement in an official press release for their upcoming line of third-party Xbox One headsets–the XO Four and XO Seven. The release mentioned that the headsets wouldn’t be made available until the adapter was readied, which was a bit confusing seeing as the gaming world previously thought that the adapter was for legacy devices.

“Turtle Beach expects to launch the XO FOUR and XO SEVEN headsets for the Xbox One console in the first quarter of 2014. “The Xbox One Headset Adapter, being built by Microsoft and provided to Turtle Beach for inclusion with new gaming headsets, will not be available until early 2014.”

After contacting Turtle Beach for clarification, CVG reported that the company’s corporate communications representative David Lowey confirmed that the adapter is indeed required to use their new line of headsets, and that the adapter will be bundled in with said products.

This is an interesting move for Microsoft, considering most gamers would assume that headsets made specifically for the console would just use it’s specific data port. One must wonder what other third-party headsets require the adapter, as Turtle Beach’s line of third-party headsets probably won’t be the only ones.

If Microsoft were to only include headset adapters bundled with compatible headsets, this would have some interesting implications, as it would give the company a good level of control over third-party headsets for the Xbox One console.

Right now Microsoft has yet to reveal any details on pricing or availability on the adapters, but based on Turtle Beach’s response, we should be able to expect them Q1 of next year.

While the PS4 won’t support voice chatting with current-gen headsets (not even official PlayStation-branded ones), Sony has confirmed that they will still support audio functions. The console-maker also plans to roll out an update sometime after the PS4’s launch that will bring voice-chatting capabilities to make old headsets fully compatible.

Microsoft is bundling all Xbox One’s with mono-headsets to make voice-chatting an option, and it will be interesting to see what other headset companies have to say regarding the console’s adapter.

The Xbox One is slated to release on Nov. 22, 2013 for the price of $499, whereas Sony’s PlayStation 4 hits the retail market on Nov. 15, 2013 for $399. Both consoles come with mono-headsets bundled-in.

Via CVG