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Did a Game Controller Operate the Missing Sub Exploring Titanic?

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Claim:

A video game controller was used to operate the OceanGate Expeditions missing submersible used for exploring the wreckage of the RMS Titanic in June 2023.

Rating:

In June 2023, a rumor spread on Twitter and other social media platforms that claimed a video game controller was used to operate a missing submersible intended for exploring the deep-sea remains of the RMS Titanic. The latter struck an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean on April 14, 1912, and then sunk in the early morning hours on the following day, killing around 1,500 people.

In our research regarding this rumor, we soon reviewed evidence that showed it was true.

The Missing Submersible

This story began in the early morning hours of June 18, when a submersible managed by OceanGate Expeditions started its voyage to the ocean floor in order to document the wreckage of Titanic. Five people were onboard.

The official website for OceanGate advertised the opportunity to “explore the Titanic” for a price starting at $250,000 per person. The package included a stay on a ship that would last eight days and seven nights.

Hours after the submersible and its passengers began the voyage, however, it did not reappear at the surface of the ocean for its scheduled return.

As of this writing on June 20, rescue efforts were underway to try to find and save the sub and its passengers. The people onboard had a 96-hour oxygen supply that was due to expire on the morning of June 22, according to The Associated Press.

Not an Xbox or PlayStation Controller

As for the rumor about the video game controller, pictures were shared on Twitter that showed OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush holding one of these devices.

Reporting published by The Independent featured a tweet from a user who had identified that it was not specifically an Xbox game controller or a PlayStation controller that operated the sub, but rather a Logitech F710 Wireless PC Gamepad.

“It has Xbox buttons but PlayStation stick layout,” Twitter user Matthew Ruddle posted. The controller once retailed for $29.99 on Amazon, while other websites priced it between $33.99 and $49.99.

Reporter Questioned Sub’s Safety in 2022

Some of the users who shared information about the missing sub and the controller included a brief video clip from “CBS Sunday Morning” that was first broadcast in December 2022.

“We run the whole thing with this game controller,” Rush said to CBS News correspondent David Pogue, who reacted to the revelation by laughing and shouting, “Come on!,” while putting his palm over his face.

Rush also showed other components of the sub that Pogue referred to as “improvised,” such as a lit-up ceiling handle that apparently was purchased at the Camping World recreational store.

What the Viral Posts Left Out

Several TikTok and Twitter users shared this part of the CBS broadcast, but did not include the very next moment in the report when Pogue asked a question about the safety of the sub. In Rush’s answer, he said that the main part of the sub’s infrastructure was designed with help from Boeing, NASA, and the University of Washington:

Pogue: It seems like this submersible has some elements of “MacGyver-y,” jerry-rigged-ness. I mean, you’re putting construction pipes as ballasts.

Rush: I don’t know if I’d use that description of it, but there are certain things you want to be buttoned down. So, the pressure vessel [part] is not “MacGyver” at all, because that’s where we worked with Boeing, and NASA, and [the] University of Washington. Everything else can fail. Your thrusters can go. Your lights can go. You’re still going to be safe.

This conversation between Pogue and Rush begins at the 3:38 mark in the full CBS report:

For future updates about the missing sub, we recommend following live coverage from The New York Times. 

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Jordan Liles

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