According to Cardinalli, it's "a hard thing to ask" people to deal with a dongle (heard, I only have so many USB ports) or a large dock, which takes up a lot of desk space. The combination of the two minimizes the desk space while also easily charging the controller.
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware) (Image credit: Tom's Hardware) "And then it has the added benefit that it has this nice, satisfying little click when you put it over, it snaps into place, Cardinali said. "You don't have to, like, worry about plugging it in."
He also highlighted the community of makers who have built add-ons for the Steam Deck. He fully expects people with 3D printers to build fuller docks, and says that the smaller size doesn't prescribe what kind of designs can be thought up.
If you're expecting Valve to teach you how to use the Controller, think again. Steam will push you to update your Controller and the associated Puck, a 2.4 GHz dongle and charging dock, and advise you to use the Steam button to go into Big Picture mode. After that, you're on your own, and it mostly works like an Xbox controller. There's no game, like Aperture Desk Job , for the Steam Deck, to school you on more advanced features.
The back buttons, gyroscope, and new Grip Sense feature, which detects where you touch the controller, are all built into Steam Input. But as Cardinali pointed out, the main controller features largely work without customization.
"We wanted it to be out of the box, easy to use for people who maybe just want a controller that works like a controller and how they would expect, so that you're seeing that element there, of course," he said. "And a lot of thought went into that process."
"It's really important to us that if you don't want to deal with any of that stuff… that the surface-level experience gets you controller compatibility in games that are meant for controllers without any sort of tinkering," added Griffais. "So the steam input stuff is there if you want it, but we don't want it to be a required element to just experience the baseline functionality there."
The Steam Controller team is working on a series of tutorials on setting up some of those functions, including customizing the touchpads, setting up gyro and other input methods, to get people exposed to Steam Input and its functionality "without being too overwhelming."
Griffais did suggest that there have been conversations within Valve about adapting Aperture Desk Job to the Steam Controller in some fashion, but couldn't guarantee it would happen. The game does feature parts that teach you how to use the Steam Deck's touchscreen and microphone, beyond the otherwise similar controls.
The Steam Controller is designed for devices that use Steam. It works with Windowsand with Macs, but Steam has to be running. Otherwise, it's seen as a hybrid mouse/keyboard input device. (Even on a PlayStation, it's seen as a mouse. The exception is Linux, where Valve has a driver in the kernel with gamepad functionality).
That's not to say you can't play games purchased outside of Steam — you can add most titles to Steam using the "Add a Non-Steam Game to My Library" option.
But wouldn't letting the Controller work out of the box with more devices and without Steam better follow Valve's PC gaming ethos? Griffais said there are other considerations.
"We're limited in what we can do with things like core operating system drivers and such, right?" he said. "Xbox controllers have built-in support within Windows itself. PlayStation controllers have a driver that they work with Microsoft on."
He said that Valve would rather put it all in Steam, to not need a kernel driver, which could potentially add system instability."
We're really happy with not having a kernel driver, because it comes with the onus of not messing it up, right?" he said. "And so right now, the current method of supporting the controller is pretty safe."
It seems that every time in modern history that Valve tries to release hardware, there's a global issue fighting them. The Steam Deck came out amidst the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Steam Machine and Steam Frame are delayed due to the chip shortage. Though the Steam Controller is releasing separately, today's economics still affected the $99 gamepad.
"Our price reflects the reality of building the product and getting it to customers," Griffais said, adding that tariffs are a factor, depending on the region.
(The Steam Deck will cost $99 in the U.S.; $149 CAD in Canada; €99 in the European Union; £85 in the UK; $149 AUD in Australia; and 419 złoty in Poland.
But the memory shortages, which are affecting Valve's other hardware, like the existing Steam Deck OLED, don't affect the controller as much, he said, adding that "it would have been way worse during Covid" due to the microcontroller shortage at the time.
But today's economics and market dynamics didn't have an effect on the controller as it's shipping.
"I mean, those conversations happened way earlier on in development of the program, so nothing that kind of came about in the past, call it year, really affected any final feature decision, right?" Cardinali said. "Those were made way earlier."
The Steam Controller will be available to add to your Steam Cart on Monday, May 4. For more, see our Steam Controller review .
Andrew E. Freedman is a senior editor at Tom's Hardware focusing on laptops, desktops and gaming. He also keeps up with the latest news. A lover of all things gaming and tech, his previous work has shown up in Tom's Guide, Laptop Mag, Kotaku, PCMag and Complex, among others. Follow him on Threads @FreedmanAE and BlueSky @andrewfreedman.net . You can send him tips on Signal: andrewfreedman.01 ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-22/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Andrew E. Freedman Social Links Navigation Andrew E. Freedman is a senior editor at Tom's Hardware focusing on laptops, desktops and gaming. He also keeps up with the latest news. A lover of all things gaming and tech, his previous work has shown up in Tom's Guide, Laptop Mag, Kotaku, PCMag and Complex, among others. Follow him on Threads @FreedmanAE and BlueSky @andrewfreedman.net . You can send him tips on Signal: andrewfreedman.01
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/peripherals/controllers-gamepads/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/peripherals/controllers-gamepads/valve-steam-controller-developer-interview#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com
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- Steam Controller leaked review points to $99 MSRP — more expensive than PS5 and Xbox controllers and Nintendo Joy-Cons
- Save over $150 on this fantastic Elegoo resin 3D printer with 16K resolution and a tilting vat — Saturn 4 Ultra 16K is on sale for just $493 right now on Amazon
Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.