The Steam Controller - A Hands on Perspective
11 years of waiting, but have Valve finally got a product that replaces the reliable Xbox Controller?
Weirdly, the Steam hardware revival reminds me of the 1996 classic “Three Lions” by Baddiel, Skinner, and the Lightning Seeds. But instead of 30 years, it’s 11 years of hurt that never stopped me dreaming. Will they finally manage to do it?
When Valve released the first Steam Controller and the original Steam Machine it was destined to bring the PC into the home. It was coming home.
But just as it looked certain to be a success, Valve hit the cross bar at the last minute and delayed the Machine due to it not hitting the perfection Valve had strived for. The hardware suppliers couldn’t wait and Windows attempted to capitalise on sloppy mistakes to score a last minute winner with Alienware releasing the hardware with Windows and an Xbox controller.
Steam did release some aspects of the Steam Machine but it was a commercial failure. But they also released the Steam Controller (and the Steam Link), a peripheral that was bundled with machines but could also be bought separately - and it was, to the tune of 1.5 million sold over its lifespan. It was given a hard time in my opinion, with IGN comparing it to the Xbox Elite controller in side by side comparisons (even though it was $100 more) and complained about how cheap it felt over the Elite (never change IGN). But what made it unique was its innovation, its touchpads to try and bring a keyboard and mouse style feel on the sofa. But the problem was the technology wasn’t there and the speed and responsiveness just wasn’t there. It was great for slower games, such as Cities Skylines or typing in Steam Big Picture. Touchpad technology just wasn’t ready for it to come off as a convenient space saver for laptops to competitive gameplay. But the ergonomics were incredible and engineering such as battery placement in the handgrips to even out weight distribution was little things only Valve would have thought of. The Steam Controller would hit its end of life in 2019 and would have a 5 year lifespan. The longest running piece of Steam hardware from its first attempt.
Valve would then release the Steam Deck in 2022 and it was obvious that even though they wouldn’t give up on the trackpads, they would compromise on their use case. Partnering them with a traditional layout that would in my opinion be the most comfortable handheld PC I have had the pleasure of using. Then in 2025, after a bit of a push from the PC community, Steam announced they would not only be bringing back a form of Steam Controller but also the Steam Machines. But history always repeats itself in some way and the Steam Machine is hit with outside entities who don’t want to see it succeed. The AI crisis and its consolidation of the world’s RAM supply has seen hardware price hikes or cancellations indiscriminately. It has also seen the Steam Deck not being able to be in stock, so Valve would release the controller on its own, for it to fly the flag for Valve hardware as it did 11 years ago. It would keep the layout which made the Steam Deck so popular, merging the trackpads in partnership with traditional buttons and joysticks. It kind of looks like a lovechild of the Switch 2 controller, with PS joystick placements, and while wearing MC hammer pants. But in a good way?
But anyway, the controller would release on the 4th May 2026 at 18:00 British time. I managed to get mine bought at 18:02 despite a terrible ecommerce system ransacked by scalpers and misjudgement from Steam. I was in euphoria, which I get is weird over a controller, but this was a 25 year old me finally getting his hands on something he just couldn’t afford back then. It’s a little win to show how far I have come. But in a way also how far Valve have come in their understanding of what their consumers want in hardware - they just need a helping hand understanding how many hardware consumers they actually attract.
The controller would arrive the following Monday, a couple of days later than the States would receive theirs when ordered at the same time. The unboxing experience is great, although there is a bit of an ecofriendly aspect to the packaging, it feels premium, weighty, and well thought out. Once you rip the tape strip but the box opens like a jewellery box, it almost splits evenly revealing its matte black treasure at the bottom part of the clamshell design and a well thought out instruction diagram for connecting the puck to the PC.
The puck is the other unique party piece of this controller. It enables the controller, although it has Bluetooth, to seamlessly work with the most minimal input lag. I have used it at my desk and approximately 8 feet away on the sofa to the TV and both felt the same. But the puck is where my first gripe comes into play. The puck just has to lay there, on your desk, motionless, like it has no belonging until you hover your controller above it, and it latches on like a small child to its mum’s neck. It needed a docking station, whether Valve made their own like they did the Steam Deck, or third parties such as DBrand, JSAux, etc. made their own off the specifications or early releases. I understand mechanism have made one but it’s not for release yet. I can see these pucks going missing. They aren’t really that big and if they come undone from the USB C cable they could end up in the crevice of a desk or a kid’s stomach…
The controller itself feels great in the hands. I like the matte finish as the controller feels coarse to a degree which gives a good feeling (I guess?) experience. One thing I did pick up straight away was how your middle and ring fingers fall perfectly into place for the L4/5 and R4/5 back buttons. The trackpads are easy to reach with your thumbs without movement of the controller. The controller has good weight to it, although I have seen complaints that they wished it was heavier, even though it weighs 12 grams more than the standard Xbox controller. The TMR sticks feel great, although there is some RMA for some sort of catching which is causing noise and roughness in the movement. My left stick has some sort of noise - similar to the Switch joycons when some sounded like they had a spring out of place, but its very faint and doesn’t affect overall usage.
When you release it from the puck, the controller instantly wakes up. The trackpads navigate Windows like a trackpad on a laptop. Pressing the Steam button once opens up Steam, pressing twice opens up Steam big picture - the console style interface. This is where some of its little Easter eggs kick in, such as the screaming when dropping it from a height. Interestingly, the controller doesn’t have speakers and the noise is generated by haptic feedback hitting just the right frequency to make that noise. When in big picture mode, the controller feels like an extension of it. Whether that’s the PC or Steam Deck. The only issue I have run into is that it wouldn’t work on Pragmata straight away even though the controller was working on Steam. I had to change a setting in the controller settings on the Steam interface for the game, which isn’t a great advert for being able to jump into any Steam game.
As time passes, the controller will get better. Once the Machine and the Frame are released, gyro will be utilised more and quality of life from what people will want from the Steam Machine will come into play.
At the moment, I think this has pushed the Xbox controller I’ve used for numerous years into the drawer of my desk and this takes its place instead. From the moment your fingers place themselves on it, it just feels at home. Its easy to navigate, it has a nice weight to it, and it takes away the need to take the keyboard and mouse to the sofa when I just want to play with a controller anyway.
It’s not perfect, but its unique, a jack of all trades, and quintessentially Steam. The need to break the mould and not conform with tradition. The original D Pad and diamond buttons have been the gaming gold standard for over 30 years and it takes a lot of guts for anyone outside of Nintendo to break that mould. With a vast array of controllers that work on PC by Xbox, Razer, 8bitdo, and even the PS5 ones, it takes some nerve to do something to stand out in the crowd. Valve have done something to combat all aspects of PC navigation and playing games on Steam.
I was concerned with Steam bringing out the Controller before the Machine, I was concerned that it would affect Machine sales, and I still am. I won’t be buying one and I would assume other PC gamers have either got a PC more powerful or can build a console PC for similar prices. But, the old controller was the last man standing in the previous hardware too and although the old controller wasn’t for everyone, and neither is this. But it bridges the gap between traditional PC gamers and casual gamers. The consumer base Steam just couldn’t reach before the Steam Deck.