Every outlet that you are seeing run a headline about the Steam Controller being in someway ‘controversial’ or ‘has a problem’ or ‘may be divisive’ …
I content that this is an anti-marketing campaign, being run by basically, potentially, the entire AAA gaming industry that isn’t Valve.
Nearly every major AAA game company is currently imploding right now.
Except Valve.
Because Valve is privately held and owned, it doesn’t have a board of investors to answer to, to constantly juice next quarter profits for.
It doesn’t have a gaggle of people who sit on multiple corporate boards simultaneously, who sit on the boards of industry lobbying groups, who sit on the boards of astroturfed ‘consumer rights’ groups.
These people all know each other, or in some cases person literally are the same people.
I of course cannot prove this conclusively, but just… look around.
This is nuts, the number of media outlets going with a non positive angle, in the headline… of a product launch.
Also consider that many of Valve’s direct competition has extensive, direct ties to the AI bubble insano-mania, both hardware and software companies.
… Its not normal to have so many different outlets have such a standardized general framing of … a video game controller launch.
This is what a retired ex corpo ex MSFT employee such as myself would describe as sus.
No. Valve spends a shit load on marketing and almost none of the articles over the past few days have been anywhere near negative.
100$ for a controller is fucking stupid. If valve wasn’t paying everyone off, they would be getting ripped a new one.
The switch 2 joycons are the same price, and the Xbox elite controller is more for less features.
Ya and no one thinks those are fairly priced. Xbox and Nintendo isn’t the bar.
The fact is that the Steam controller is way more feature rich than other controllers from major brands in the same price point. The price tag actually makes sense vs what Nintendo and Microsoft charge for inferior hardware.
$100 for a controller that will only work through Steam is way too much for me, but I can see how it would be worth it for anyone who exclusively plays games through Steam and wants to play games designed for a mouse on a controller.
Gamers divided on a piece of hardware? No shit
prices that have raised eyebrows among some gamers.
WTF?
Only those that know nothing about the features and tech internal.
price is a steal.
With prices of hardware in general world-wide (non-ram related) we’re lucky this isn’t $120US or $150US
Switch 2 Joycon’s are the same price for fuck sakes…
Xbox Elite Wireless Controller is more expensive, and can’t do the things this controller can do.
Not everyone is in us. 99 euro no matter how reasonable prices a lot of Germans out
Yeah, but is it really that much more expensive than other controllers? PS5 Dual Sense is 79€. Xbox Series X/S is 65€ with the Elite 2 at 200€. Considering the additional features of the Steam controller and current development of hardware prices, the pricing seems reasonable.
Edit: I should add, those are recommended retail prices (UVP), and the actual prices from individual stores can be lower.
Prices can’t be compared directly, because in Germany we have the taxes in the price included already. And the taxes in the US vary I think. So the difference is less than it looks like by just converting with current exchange rates.
Also Xbox controllers have garbage ass build quality. Valve seems to make pretty solid hardware. The only one I see as comparable is the PS5 dualsense controller, but it’s still missing some things like the extra buttons. It has a touchpad, but just one, and it’s not optimally placed, imho.
Ackshully, the PS5 touchpad has two sides that can be individually configured. But you’re right that it’s not optimally placed.
The Index conttollers were a bit of a joke, in terms of both build quality and ergonomics. I had like 3 RMAs.
Anecdotal RMAs aside, I think the ergonomics are fantastic and they blew every other VR controller I’ve tried out of the water.
Never had a problem with mine and I have smacked them into solid objects pretty hard a few times.
Build quality is debatable, but I thought the ergonomics were great. What didn’t you like about them?
I have serious stick drift on Dualsense controllers after using them on and off for just a year. 3 controllers, all with the same issue.
I like the Dualsense a lot at its best, but I go through roughly a controller per year probably. One of them something with the rumble loosened. Not noticeable in some games, but when I was playing Returnal it sounded like a jackhammer. Another the sticks got…sticky in a way that was really distracting. Stick drift on another, and my current one the right arrow stopped working. I had to re-map it to the left stick click to play Infinite Wealth, and other games like Elden Ring just won’t work with it.
Agreed though, when they work they’re comfortable, responsive, intuitive. At their best they’re the best controller I’ve used.
But for $80+ these days they should have hall effect sticks and mechanical switches. I’ve started buying https://www.gulikit.com/ controllers, which have both and are much cheaper, but not as comfy or responsive.
we’re lucky this isn’t $120US
£85 GBP is pretty much $120 USD (it’s $114).
And that’s very much what the yanks will pay for it. American prices are always before taxes.
Polish prise is 420 pln wchich is also 115$
Its like a few dollars more than other controllers with double the features and quality. What are people complaining about? 85 for something that’ll last years and give you 1000s of hours of enjoyment is a no brainer
A standard, official Xbox controller is $85 CAD. This thing is $150. That’s almost double. I agree, the features sound great (especially having used the original steam controller, I know how good their touchpads are), but still… Almost double.
I’m more than willing to pay a premium for a PC controller that isn’t going to have stick drift and will work a few years down the line. God knows how many xbox controllers I’ve gone through.
I trust Valve, I’ve used their product and played their games for decades and they’ve never let me down. they’ve made gaming on linux accessible and now extremely easy to set up and get going. $100 for a controller I will pay for.
I’m definitely pushing for this to last a long time. The battery is the only thing that concerns me a little. I use rechargeable Eneloops with the original controller, and there’s no danger of the AA battery form factor disappearing anytime soon. I’ll likely grab a spare battery for the new one eventually just to keep in reserve.
I’m so pissed (at myself), I thought this was going to be delayed indefinitely like the steam machine so I broke down and bought an xbox elite controller a month ago. That stupid controller was 250 bucks after tax and it doesn’t have half the features the steam controller does and its only 90 dollars.
I really should have been more patient.
I have two Elite 2s, one for my wife and I, was hoping they’d finally last us a long while, nope, within a year both have stick drift and faulty bumpers.
Damn, you really should have. The controller isn’t affected by the RAMpocalypse, so people have been suspecting this would end up being released first since the delay was announced. I’m waiting for the Frame most of all, so I’ll take your comment as a reminder to not break down and buy another headset early.
Stay strong
250 USD ? In the US, like on Amazon or Best Buy, is that the normal price for an Elite + Tax?
Holy shit. Now I understand why people are defending the SC2 pricing.
Yes, there are several premium controllers in the $200 range. People unhappy with the price are thinking of the SC as an expensive base model controller when feature-wise it’s more like an inexpensive premium one.
I got a gamesir controller which retails for nearly the same price, but I got it at half price so I’m somewhat OK. I would have been devastated if I had to shell out full price a week before steam controller got on my radar.
My condolences, and may your unfortunate purchase serve it’s purpose for long enough to be worth its price and more.
Me, seeing what they did to the steam controller:
WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO MAH BOY?!
Holy fuck that controller looks oversized and awkward. I get what they’re going for, but fuck that looks like it would be a pin in the ass (wrist) to hold onto and to effectively use the face buttons, thumb sticks and touch pads without hitting something else.
I’m gonna stick with my gen1 controller for a good bit, at least until there are a good amount of user reviews.
i think it’s exactly the same size and layout as the steam deck, no? that thing is hella comfortable to hold.
Similar, but not the same. I had to double check against my deck, but the touch pads look noticeably larger, and the orientations are different, but that could be for the different ergonomics of the contriller.
Like I said, I’m gonna wait for reviews cuz it could be good, and valve has a good track record and I might have been reacting to some small handed model showing it off, idk. Just from the image it looks kinda bulky and awkward as a controller, but I’ll be happy to be wrong.
The touchpads are indeed slightly larger at 34.5mm versus the Deck’s 32.5mm. The whole grip angle and triangle of buttons-sticks-pads is rotated from the Steam Deck slightly because your hands will be closer together, so the angle from your shoulders changes. One review mentioned that they wished Valve had actually gone a bit more extreme with the angle, but that didn’t seem to be a common opinion.
Reviews are already out. At least reviewer reviews. The touchpads are slightly bigger.
could be that the touch pads are the same size and everything else is smaller.
there are a lot of reviews already and most of them seem disappointed. which is weird because the price seems te be the main sticking point.
there are a lot of reviews already and most of them seem disappointed
Damn, I just found out about the controller today, I didn’t realize it was already going out. I’ll have to check out the reviews when I have a bit of time, but I may be holding out on my gen1 for a good while.
Here’s hoping the console/VR products they’ve got coming are more impressive.
I think “most of them seem disappointed” doesn’t really capture the overall sentiment, but definitely check some video reviews and decide for yourself.
i’m probably still gonna get one or two of these, because i want to play on a bigger screen with deck-like controls.
it’s been known for many years now that the new controller would have basically nothing to do with the old one. it had too many compromises.
Have you held a steamdeck before? This looks very similar while just narrowr and lighter. And the steamdeck feels very good to hold.
The steam deck is like a foot wide so the vertical grips are comfortable with that. The vertical grips of the controller that’s 5”(?) wide doesn’t seem as great.
I have a deck, and I would argue that it isn’t comfortable to hold for super long. I’d play it a lot more if my wrists didn’t ache after a 20-30 minute session.
I love the look personally, but I’ve seen people call the Steam Deck ugly, and I don’t understand that either.
In any case, I have the original Steam Controller, Deck, Index headset, and Index controllers, and all have amazing ergonomics. All the video reviewers I trust to not shill for Valve have had minor complaints at worst too.
Anyone you recommend? I have the OG controller and a deck, so I’m not against the design, it just doesn’t look good to me on first look. But, like I said in another comment, it could just be a small hand model, or maybe even a bad angle
Gamers Nexus is pretty much always good and has both review and teardown videos.
I also trust Skill Up’s video due to him covering a lot of the features relevant to Steam Input that most other reviews missed. You can really tell when a reviewer hasn’t done much experimenting with the gyro or configuring in general. You’ll also see what the controller looks like in very large hands. Lol.
I watched probably about twenty reviews and commentaries, and the rest just kind of blend together in saying most of the same stuff.
Once it works natively on general Linux distros I’m buying it.
Do you mean without steam input? My understanding is that the internals default to sending mouse & keyboard inputs which get translated to controller output in software. I’m sure someone will write an open source driver to get it working without Steam at some point, but if you don’t mind running games through Steam then it’s already working.
If its like the Steam Deck (which it is), this is true, I’ve installed non Steam OSs on my Deck to fuck around and find out, there is some kind of default mapping, the track pad is a mouse, etc…
Its probably the same or close to the default hardware mapping as the default SteamInput mode for a Deck, in Desktop mode, would be my guess, basically sans virtual keyboard as Steam does its own virtual keyboard via Steam/SteamInput.
Obviously works much better and fully featured with the SteamInput system, but it isn’t a total brick if you don’t have Steam.
Which yeah, should mean that it would be possible to write a fully opensource kind of controller manager/bus type thing for it.
It already works on any linux distro you can install Steam on.
My OG Steam controller is still kicking.
I use it in desktop mode more than anything these days
