One of the best parts of Steam Deck is its many different controls, and how you can customize them to let you do what you want with each of your games. Now, Valve is bringing that same level of flexibility to a new gamepad. I got to try it out at Valve’s headquarters recently, and it feels like the controller I’ve always wanted.
Today, Valve announced the second-generation Steam Controller. It’s a Bluetooth controller that works with any device that runs Steam, including Valve’s new Steam Machine PC and Steam Frame VR headset, and it comes with a pick that acts as a low-latency wireless connector and doubles as a charging station. According to hardware engineer Steve Cardinalli, it will launch for a yet-to-be-announced price, though Valve aims to make the price competitive with other controllers with “advanced inputs.”
The valve is another crack at steam controller construction. The first-generation model had two large circular trackpads, only one joystick, and came in an unusual bulbous shape. It turns out to give you mouse-grade pointing accuracy and a keyboard’s worth of customizable functions in the palms of your hands. Valve eventually discontinued the original model, but it never really died. The company and devotees kept their configuration system alive as Steam Input, a system that now lets you configure your PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo controllers in the same way.
Controller usage has increased dramatically on Steam, with a significant portion of people using Steam input. For example, some have changed their steam deck controls to bind Hollow Knight : SlexongAttack downwards, key in battle and explore the world with a single button. Steam Deck buyers have sometimes discovered that decades-old mouse and keyboard games are instantly playable because a community controller profile was created years ago by some diehard Steam controller enthusiast.
Valve’s second-generation Steam controller is much closer to a traditional gamepad than the older version. Imagine someone took a Steam deck, took off the screen, and smashed the two ends together, and you get the general idea: There’s a difference between the standard gamepad grip, an improved D-pad, four main face buttons, two triggers, two bumpers, four back buttons, and even two Steam-like touchpads. I never liked the way the old Steam controller sat in my hands, but this new one just feels intuitive.
Along with the new controller, Valve is also the first to insert a magnetic, flow-resistant stick into a first-party pad. Valve partnered with an undisclosed vendor for the custom design, which uses TMR joysticks, though the design isn’t exclusive, according to Cardinali.
The Steam Controller has two brand new capacitive sensors inside each grip when you’re holding it fully or letting go with a few fingers. Valve calls this virtual button “GripSense,” and you can map it to anything, but the feature was originally suggested by a Valve employee who wanted a way to activate a gyro without using his thumbs. There are also two “high output LRA haptic motors” in the grips, though I wasn’t able to test how well they might make the controller feel in practice.
This is a great controller. Vaguely reminded me of the OG Xbox “Duke” gamepad. But I loved the controller, and in the few minutes I got to play with the new Steam controller a few weeks ago, it felt really comfortable. (My colleague Sean says his “fingertips just melt into its circular back buttons.”)
The tops of the sticks are slightly thinner than the deck, although the sticks have similar grippy surfaces. The face buttons are less rattle-y, and charging the whole thing is very clever—you just bring the controller to the top of the included puck and the puck will magnetically snap into place.
The pick gives you a proprietary low-latency connection for four controllers at the same time, and Valve says you can use all four up to 5 meters without dropouts. Valve’s engineers tell us they’ve tried 16 controllers at a time, but that’s not officially supported.
Valve’s new vapor machine has a built-in antenna specifically for connecting to the vapor controller, so you can just place the puck next to your couch to charge. Each controller gets an estimated 35 hours of battery life from the internal lithium pack.
We answered your burning questions about Valve’s new hardware.
We hosted an exclusive AMA from a subscriber about Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and Steam Controller, and you can see our answers here.
Although the controller isn’t powered by AA batteries like the older Steam controllers, Valve has built a lithium pack into this new model user replacement: when you open the gamepad, it pops out like an old cell phone battery. You can plug the USB-C cable directly into the Steam controller for wired charging and play, too.
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Cardinalli had to play me Above With three different control schemes to show what is possible with the controller. For a blind person, I used traditional gamepad controls, and playing it with the Steam controller felt the same as I do with my Switch Pro controller (another favorite gamepad of mine). For the next blind, I used the right touchpad as the mouse and the left touchpad as the mouse “buttons”, the left side of the left pad as left click and the right side as right click. I wouldn’t say it was faster, but it paralleled the mouse experience. For the next blind, I activated the gyro in the grip to move the mouse. Again, not necessarily a fast way to play, but I can see why some people might like it.
If you, like me, wish every controller offered the same level of flexibility for your games as the Steam deck, I think this new Steam controller is going to be an easy recommendation.
