Future Concept: Lattice Gaming Platform

PA's innovation teams have extensive experience working with leading gaming brands to design and bring to life best-selling gaming products: new product development for gaming mice, headsets, keyboards, and controllers and their accompanying software. A central part of our work is helping our clients define what’s next, and creating inspiring future concepts.

The next-generation of gamers

Our Future of gaming study revealed the next generation of video gamers is demanding more from their gaming experiences – more sustainability, more personalisation, and deeper self-expression.

Unlike previous generations, they are twice as likely to desire more sustainable gaming setups, with many willing to make sacrifices to reduce environmental impact. Additionally, 77 percent of young gamers seek more mindful gaming experiences, and they are three times more likely to share their creations on streaming and social platforms. Yet, today’s gaming hardware and ecosystems fail to meet these evolving needs.

Lattice aims to change that. It’s a forward-looking concept developed by our expert team that meets gamers’ emerging needs in gaming control devices.

Redefining gaming peripherals

Powered by a generative AI design interface and on-demand manufacturing, Lattice enables gamers to create, their own unique gaming products – starting with controllers – tailored to their unique aesthetics, ergonomics, and preferences.

The experience starts with an online software platform that allows gamers to customise and tailor their game controller by writing prompts, like; ‘add performance grips where I touch it’ or ‘make it look like a multicoloured, winding rope’. Gamers can also select options like their preferred gaming grip-style (e.g. double claw grip or relaxed), or apply accessibility needs (e.g. single-hand, or reduced dexterity). The controller of your dreams gets visualised in real-time as you make your edits. You can share it with friends to get their opinion or input before pressing the ‘Add to Cart’ button.

Our aim with the software experience was to be as effortless and magical as possible. UI mock-ups and early prototypes were tested to ensure the user interaction was equally seamless and exciting.

Sustainability impact and long-term value

At the heart of the Lattice future concept is a modular, upgradeable “brain” – a repairable core designed for functional longevity. Unlike traditional controllers, which often become obsolete or discarded, Lattice allows users to refresh or enhance components, reducing waste and increasing emotional attachment. 

Lifecycle assessments show that PCB assemblies and electromechanical components hold the largest environmental footprint in gaming peripherals. Rather than relying solely on recyclability, Lattice prioritises extending product life to deliver the most impactful sustainability benefits.

A central part of our design strategy was to use, on-demand manufacturing to create Lattice. This further minimises environmental impact by producing only what is needed, reducing excess production, shipping emissions, landfill waste, and downstream impacts.

The future of gaming design

For the controller’s industrial design, we combined our team’s extensive experience of hand size, grip styles and gaming ergonomics with generative creation. The concepts were developed using computational generations for form factor (overall shape, size, grip), and generative AI for personalisation (colour, texture, inspiration). This procedural approach means an infinite form and grip variations can be generated, and everyone can have a truly unique product. 

Using our comprehensive prototyping facility, the outcomes were validated using 3D printing proof of concepts, often with unexpected and exciting outcomes of designs and form factors never seen before!

Turning creativity into commerce

We explored how businesses could turn creativity into commerce: leveraging social sharing, repeat customisation, and expanded product ecosystems to drive engagement and revenue growth. Beyond the hardware, Lattice represents a business case with huge potential for growth. The software platform combined with near-shore additive manufacturing allows for an entire portfolio of products to be delivered to gamers in a way that doesn’t exist today. The platform could extend to other products, like gaming mice, keyboards and headsets as well as component parts for those products – giving gamers the ultimate platform to tailor products to their needs.

After conceiving a future concept that met gamer’s needs, our design and growth strategy teams built journey maps of various experiences and business cases before narrowing into an optimal service. The key was to ensure customer engagement and value every step of the journey. Service design features like allowing customers to share their creation online, being able to see the controller being created via a live feed to the 3D printing facility, and allowing customers to refresh and replace components easily, ensured the customer journey would have emotional resonance with gamers.

More than a product experience

Our future concept Lattice turns design into an interactive and social experience. Gamers can showcase their unique designs, share the manufacturing process, and even collaborate with others, making customisation a key part of their gaming identity. 

By merging growth strategy, gaming expertise, ergonomic research, and procedural design, Lattice offers an intuitive, guided customisation journey that empowers every gamer to create hardware as unique as they are. This is more than a product – it’s a movement toward a more sustainable, expressive, and player-driven future in gaming.