No, I did not read that an xbox controller was required. At least not for basic calibration. I don't really care about being able to use the Oculus Home entertainment platform. If I can't play Eve Valkyrie, it's disappointing. If I can't use the Rift in the UE4 PIE, that's a BIG problem. Then there's the issue that they're adding pain points for people who want to use a controller other than the Microsoft one, which lends support to a Microsoft monopoly on PC gamepads. It is really harmful to consumers. My guess is that they got a really good deal from Microsoft in order to do this. And don't think it's just baseless speculation- the computer industry has been working this way for decades.

I was wondering about the IPD, so thanks for clarifying that. I have an abnormally large IPD, so being able to calibrate that is important, but I am willing to accept not having an IPD adjustment since in that regard the DK2 IS technically obsolete, and it would be additional work to include support.

As for the calibration... I tried it without calibrating. It thought I was sitting to the side, and turned about 30 degrees. I searched for how to recenter, and calibration is the answer I found. But I don't see how having an xbox controller will help. Yes, it will solve having to open / close / reopen oculus home a bunch of times until it accepts keyboard input during calibration, but I will still have the same fundamental issue- it requires standing, and then adjusts to calculate sitting position. And I can't stand, because the DK2 camera doesn't have a large enough FOV. Now, it may be that there's a problem with my camera. As seen elsewhere on this thread, it seems my camera loses tracking at a distance closer to the camera than at least one other person's DK2. The further you are from the camera, the larger the space you have to work in. If the camera is far enough away, I can sit and stand and still be in it's FOV. But, my camera loses tracking if I am that far away from it.