This is the type of article that hacker news was made for!
It would be cool if you could print console controllers that mold to the players exact hand dimensions (a teenager and adult have very different hands)
3D printing materials are pretty weak and game controllers have a lot of excessive force misapplied to them, it would be really expensive to print the replacement housings parts over and over again.
Depends on the geometry of the object, orientation, print settings and material.
This being a closed shape, split in half, printed hollow-face down and supported by the inner structure _and_ the other half?
I'm pretty sure you can use the cheapest PLA filament on the market, and you wouldn't be able to break it will all your strength even at very weak settings (2 perimenters, %20 infill).
Want to factor in the possibility to throw the controller on the ground? Next cheap step is to use PETG. Higher impact strength, almost perfect intra-layer bonding if printed correctly. By the time the shell is broken, the components are too.
If this was a controller in the shape of a PS controller it would be different due to the possibility of leverage. Still, we now have FDM filaments which are good enough even for that.
You always need to factor in process limitations. What you don't see in everyday object is how they're designed to fit within the manufacturing process they've chosen and optimized accordingly. FDM has limitations too, and one has to design with that in mind.
Did you ever use a 3D printer before? I'm asking because I had similar misconceptions about 3D printed materials before my first print, and was quickly proven wrong.
Even standard PLA prints are really sturdy. You can easily create game controller-sized parts with 20-30% infill that almost nobody could break with their bare hands. It'll certainly survive anything that won't also break the internals.
It would be cool if you could print console controllers that mold to the players exact hand dimensions (a teenager and adult have very different hands)