The Xbox 360 wired controller is a great piece of kit, easily the best controller ever as a balance of price, reliability, and simplicity of use - the API has literally two functions, "what buttons are pressed" and "set vibration to X". The initial Xbox One controllers were a clear regression, although the recent Xbox One X are much better again. However, for use cases such as the submarine in TFA, wireless is a liability, not an improvement.
The Xbox One controllers send data over the USB cable when plugged in. You could make the argument that the USB cable could get pulled out of the controller, but the Xbox 360 wired models have the breakaway which is just as easy to pull out with a good yank anyway.
