Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

Meet the release-ready Steam Controller

By
Introducing the Steam Controller
Valve’s Steam Controller has undergone an evolution since we first got a look at it in 2013. The initial configuration of two touchpads has been supplemented with an actual thumbstick and the now-standard four buttons as a concession to traditionalists, for instance.
Recommended Videos

Now the controller is finally ready for the spotlight, and pre-orders are available for a limited initial release on October 16, alongside the first wave of official Steam Machines and the in-home streaming Steam Link. In order to catch up and excite gamers that haven’t necessarily been following news of the controller’s development with bated breath, Valve has released a new overview video about the Steam Controller, outlining its basic features and what separates it from standard gamepads.

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming
Check your inbox!
Privacy Policy

Although physical controls have been added, the two touchpads are still the most distinctive and potentially game-changing feature of the Steam Controller. One of Valve’s primary design objectives was to develop a gamepad that could substitute for a keyboard and mouse, allowing for couch play of games that did not previously lend themselves without a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard.

In the video they show someone playing Cities: Skylines. Previous demonstrations have used Civilization V as an example — one of my all-time favorite games, and one which I could not have imagined playing on a gamepad before seeing it. Having two touchpads also opens up interesting possibilities like a much faster virtual keyboard, with both of your thumbs available to find letters instead of the tedious hunting and pecking with a thumbstick.

The other major point in the Steam Controller’s favor is that it is fully customizable for every game. You will be able to map out any game’s controls scheme in any way you like. If you would rather not spend the time experimenting with optimal set-ups for every game, you will be able to peruse configurations that the community has shared in order to find the most popular options and then adjust to taste.

A limited quantity of Steam Controllers are available for pre-order now from Valve for $50. This first round will ship on October 16, and then hit store shelves officially on November 10.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Will Fulton
Will Fulton
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Will Fulton is a New York-based writer and theater-maker. In 2011 he co-founded mythic theater company AntiMatter Collective…
I would give up my Steam Deck if the ROG Ally 2 had these features
Lies of P running on the Asus ROG Ally.

Last year, I wrote about how I went back to my Steam Deck after using the ROG Ally for several months. Asus' device is a real competitor (read our Asus ROG Ally review to learn why), but there are a handful of aspects of the Steam Deck that make it the right handheld for me. That could change with the ROG Ally 2, however.

Rumor has it that Asus is gearing up to release an updated version of the ROG Ally for 2024. Even if this isn't an entirely new handheld, it's hard to imagine Asus will exit the world of handheld gaming PCs any time soon. And if it makes a few key changes to the next iteration of the ROG Ally, I might finally retire my Steam Deck for good.
No Windows lock screen

Read more
The RTX 4090 is more popular on Steam than any AMD GPU
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 GPU.

Despite being easily the fastest graphics card you can buy right now, the RTX 4090 is a niche product. At $1,600, it's out of the conversation for the vast majority of gamers. Still, that hasn't stopped the GPU from reaching a high ranking in Steam's hardware survey. According to the latest survey, the RTX 4090 is in 0.96% of gaming PCs running Steam -- more than any individual AMD GPU.

Although it's no surprise that Nvidia tops the charts in the Steam hardware survey -- the most recent report says Nvidia is represented in 76.59% of PCs compared to AMD's 15.79% -- it's shocking to see such an expensive GPU rank so highly. Compared to last month, the RTX 4090 even gained 0.11%, despite only being available above list price.

Read more
A Redditor ‘didn’t know’ about the Steam Deck, so they built their own
The homemade Ryzen Deck sitting on a desk.

It's hard to imagine that anyone interested in portable gaming hasn't heard of the Steam Deck, but one Redditor says they "didn't know" it existed. And because of that, they decided to build their own.

The 3D-printed contraption comes from Raven0606, who shared images of the completed handheld on the r/SBCGaming subreddit, which is dedicated to handheld emulators. The build took nine months to complete, and Raven0606 dubbed it the Ryzen Deck in honor of the Steam Deck (they found out about Valve's handheld halfway through the build process).

Read more