Steam Controller releases today (5/4/26)

Picking up a Steam Controller?

  • I'm already tongue-punching F5 in Steam in hopes of getting one right away

    Votes: 6 17.1%

  • I'm interested but I can wait until after release because of (potential bugs, reviews, etc.)

    Votes: 10 28.6%

  • Nah, My Gravis gamepad (or other controller) still works perfectly

    Votes: 13 37.1%

  • No, I hate gamepads but I want my participation trophy

    Votes: 6 17.1%
  • Total voters
    35
I got mine today. I might send it back. It suffers from the same thing that the Steam Deck does in that they add an intentional dead zone to the trackpad when using it for Windows mouse control or aiming in game.

This video is exactly what I'm experiencing:

https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/...ouse_trackpad_setting_has_an_absurd_deadzone/

I noticed it within one second of using it to aim in game. I was like "wtf, why did my input go dead all of a sudden".

The trackpads are tiny as is and this dead zone makes the usable area even tinier.

And unless I'm missing something, I don't see any configuration option to disable this dead zone.
 
Still using an oldschool N64 controller with a USB adapter, from the last Console I owned and actually played before I switched to 100% computer gaming. But if the Steam Controller is amazing and really raises the bar somehow I might consider picking one up.
 
Does this just work in Big Picture mode? Or can you use the default layout?
 
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I decided to send mine back. It's a very average controller IMO. Not worth anywhere near $100 unless you really need the trackpads for some reason. And even then, the forced dead zones of the trackpads means that the usable space is very small.

Switching between the steam controller and the dualsense is night and day. The HD haptics and adaptive triggers of the dualsense are just too good and not something that I'm willing to give up.
 
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TwistedMetalGear said:
I decided to send mine back. It's a very average controller IMO. Not worth anywhere near $100 unless you really need the trackpads for some reason. And even then, the forced dead zones of the trackpads means that the usable space is very small.

Switching between the steam controller and the dualsense is night and day. The HD haptics and adaptive triggers of the dualsense are just too good and not something that I'm willing to give up.
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I've been so confused about the hype surrounding this thing.
 
TwistedMetalGear said:
I decided to send mine back. It's a very average controller IMO. Not worth anywhere near $100 unless you really need the trackpads for some reason. And even then, the forced dead zones of the trackpads means that the usable space is very small.

Switching between the steam controller and the dualsense is night and day. The HD haptics and adaptive triggers of the dualsense are just too good and not something that I'm willing to give up.

Also, apparently the puck is a fire hazard, so be careful not to keep yours near anything metal.
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I like mine. Been playing Doom 2016
 
Armenius said:
I got all the achievements on the Xbox One version with a controller. Played on Ultra Violence.
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when-doomguy-gets-that-perfect-glory-kill-v0-peby4bercai11.jpg
 
I added myself to the pre-order on the 8th and am still waiting. Blows my mind how Valve said they had "plenty" but here we are 2 weeks later and still no stock.
 
My reservation just went through. I ordered about 1 1/2 hours after they started accepting reservations, so just over 2 months in the queue.
 
TwistedMetalGear said:
I decided to send mine back. It's a very average controller IMO. Not worth anywhere near $100 unless you really need the trackpads for some reason. And even then, the forced dead zones of the trackpads means that the usable space is very small.

Switching between the steam controller and the dualsense is night and day. The HD haptics and adaptive triggers of the dualsense are just too good and not something that I'm willing to give up.
Click to expand...
Big agree. Just keeping mine because there is one game in particular I can see it being useful in (Realm of the Mad God), but besides that the DualSense just feels superior in every way. Adaptive triggers are so good too. The steam controller doesn't feel that bad honestly but then you pick up a DualSense and it is night and day haha.
 
Got the email today, and ordered it today. I reserved around 5 hours after it went live on 5/8.
 
I've only had it for 5 days but I like it a lot better than the PS5 controller. It doesn't need to be plugged in to fully work, the sticks feel a lot smoother and more accurate, it's more comfortable to hold, the plastic feels higher quality, has a lot more buying, and it is infinitely more configurable. It's awesome so far. Of the modern 1st party controllers PS5 would be the worst for me with Xbox and the SteamCon trading blows. Unfortunately I can't test the Xbox controller against the SteamCon back to back as it currently has a bad stick and is in pieces.

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Got it today and it works really well. The joysticks are really nice (it is making me want to upgrade the DS sticks to TMR ones). The only real thing I don't like is I have to add any GoG games to Steam in order to use it. I haven't used it long enough to really compare it, but I am guessing for games with Adaptive trigger support, I'll still prefer the DualSense, but for most anything else I'd go with the Steam Controller if I am going through steam.
 
I've been using it for a couple of months and it's almost the perfect controller for me. The sticks are smooth and accurate, the face buttons have a nice weight and are quiet. I love the ergonomics; it feels great in my hands and is more comfortable than the the PS5 and Xbox controllers (my previous favorite ergonomics would be the Xbox controller). The battery lasts forever. I printed a dock that holds the puck which magnetically snaps the controller to it; it stays charged for as long as I could possibly need and hasn't yet reached low battery in my usage. Steam Input is really impressive and it works with all controllers (setting Turbo and Hold modes has been pretty useful since I've started using it). I've barely used the back buttons but they're easy to setup in press. I have yet to mess with the gyro capability.

I will say that I've hardly used the touchpads and the D-Pad is really close to the edge. Valve has been updating it quite a bit but its kind of annoying that it won't update through the puck and needs to be plugged in directly to the PC.

It's pretty neat that in Linux it's picked up as a separate input device. So on my KDE desktop I can turn the controller on and interact in much the same way as a mouse. It can even bring up an on-screen keyboard if I need to type anything.

I've already used it more in the past 2 months than I did the original Steam Controller in the past decade; it's so much better than the first gen as a 'normal' controller.

I still don't like using it for KBM focused games but it can be a reasonable substitute if you want it to be.

If anyone has any specific questions post them. I'm happy to test some things if you're interested.
 
It's a great controller, but doesn't completely eliminate the need for a mouse and keyboard on the desktop. Despite numerous updates the mouse will just stop working on windows desktop sometimes and I will have to break out my mouse on my living room PC.
 
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