Huh? Rechargeable AA and AAA batteries and chargers are highly affordable and work great. I only have a few items where I don't use them like smoke alarms. For everything else I use rechargable and absolutely love having devices with easily swappable batteries.

Why wouldn't you get a pack of rechargeable AAs and a charger? $30-40 investment and you never need to buy batteries again, you don't generate waste, and can go from 0-100% power in seconds.

I have an 8bitdo Pro2 that charges over USB-C and when the battery pack died of heavy use, you could just swap it out with rechargeable AAs and keep going. I've gotten over a year of additional use out of that controller now thanks to the support for AA's.

I'm specifically not buying the Pro 3 because the battery isn't replaceable.

Vastly prefer my DualSense with built-in rechargeable that lasts multiple days unplugged over my Xbox Series pad that eats AAs. Just make the replacement simple and affordable, which it appears they will.

I guess it's not a huge issue for controllers if you use them regularly, but the energy density on lithium-ion batteries is great, but the self-discharge isn't ideal. AA rechargeables are usually NiMH, and those do better on that front.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-discharge

Lithium-ion: 2–3% per month;[3] ca. 4% p.m.[5]
Low self-discharge NiMH: As low as 0.25% per month

I have lithium-ion 18650s in my high-power flashlight, but for devices that I leave around the house that don't really need a lot of energy density

think TV remotes or something

I think that it's probably sensible to use NiMH batteries.