Six months after Valve tantalisingly unveiled its future {hardware} plans, one in every of them has efficiently escaped the vortex attributable to the mounting RAM disaster. Valve has introduced its new Steam Controller – the successor to its long-discontinued 2015 effort – goes on sale 4th Might.
Buoyed on by the success of its Steam Deck handheld, Valve made a trio of {hardware} bulletins in November final yr. The biggies have been a Steam Machine mini PC – mentioned to be six instances extra highly effective than Steam Deck – and a brand new standalone VR headset often called Steam Body. However as thrilling as these bulletins have been, it was the information of a brand-new Steam Controller that – as an enormous fan of the considerably unfairly maligned unique – had me excited.
All three bits of recent {hardware} have been initially focusing on a launch at first of this yr, however in February, Valve was pressured to revise its plans because of world reminiscence and storage shortages attributable to large demand from tech giants going all-in on AI information centres. On the time, it mentioned it was now aiming to launch its {hardware} earlier than the center of 2026, and three months on, the Steam Controller is nearly prepared for launch.
As Valve designer Lawrence Yang defined to me final week, the very fact the brand new Steam Controller comprises neither RAM nor storage meant it is escaped the issues going through the corporate’s different {hardware}. „And so we’re saying and delivery it now as a result of that is when it is prepared,“ he famous. „We did not artificially maintain it again for no matter purpose. That is simply how lengthy it is taken to get the whole lot prepared from a {hardware}, firmware, software program standpoint, in addition to increase sufficient launch amount and getting it to all the warehouses around the globe in order that we will have a great launch amount on ship day.“
Valve’s Steam Controller revival has been in growth because the launch of Steam Deck OLED and was, in accordance with Valve engineer Jeremy Slocum, borne from the crew’s earlier handheld work. „As we have been growing the Steam Deck, lots of the prototypes we constructed have been very a lot controller like, however in a handheld kind issue, that is the way in which we dialed within the ergonomics… And even then, we had inklings [that these] set of inputs and this type of structure may really make a fairly good controller design. [The controller] was all the time in our thoughts, at the same time as we have been growing the Steam Deck.“
And as Steam Deck discovered its footing, the crew „noticed that individuals would dock [the device] after which, in the event that they wished to play from their sofa, these inputs and people configurations that they created for his or her Steam deck simply did not translate“ to every other controller. „It was sort of a gap within the expertise that we felt like we wished to offer“, explains Slocum.
The crew stays „actually proud“ of the unique Steam Controller and the way nicely it allowed folks to play video games not designed for a gamepad. However Slocum acknowledges it „fell quick simply because it did not have all of the inputs that [some games expected], which means gamers needed to relearn learn how to use the controller which „wasn’t preferrred for lots of people.“ And so the purpose this time round was to „do all these items which are on a conventional gamepad in addition to all these superior inputs and make them usable “ in a extra „decide up and play“ kind. „After which if you need to try to dip your toes in a few of these superior inputs, they’re nonetheless actually accessible to you.“
And thus, the brand new Steam Controller – with, maybe most notably, a second thumbstick and Steam Deck-style structure – which shall be out there to „add to cart“ by way of Steam on 4th Might. It prices £85 right here within the UK. That equates to €99 in Europe, with Valve additionally confirming a $99 price ticket within the US, $149 in Canada, $149 in Australia, and 419 złoty in Poland. Pricing variations by area are mentioned to be because of distribution prices, import duties/tariffs, and market circumstances.
In case you’re questioning concerning the technical specifics of the brand new Steam Controller, you’ll be able to take a look at Will Judd’s unique chat with Valve from final yr. And if you happen to’re questioning if it is well worth the £85 price ticket, you may discover my impressions after every week with the Steam Controller elsewhere on Eurogamer.
