Valve Releases Steam Controller, Skips Steam Machine
▼ Summary
– Valve is releasing the Steam Controller on May 4th for $99 USD, without the Steam Machine.
– The Steam Machine console and Steam Frame headset are delayed, with Valve saying to “stay tuned” for updates.
– The Steam Controller works with any computer running Steam and as a generic controller for phones.
– Valve is working on replacement parts with iFixit and has built a “significant quantity” of controllers.
– The controller features built-in infrared LEDs for VR tracking, but testing with the Steam Frame was not possible yet.
Valve is officially launching its new Steam Controller on May 4th at 1PM ET, priced at $99 USD, $149 CAD, $149 AUD, £85 in the UK, and €99 in the EU. But notably, the company is releasing this gamepad without its long-awaited Steam Machine living room console or the Steam Frame VR headset. After spending two weeks with the controller paired to both Steam Decks and gaming desktops, my colleagues Jay Peters and Cameron Faulkner have already published their reviews , and the consensus is that it’s quite impressive.
So what about the Steam Machine and Steam Frame? Valve is keeping its cards close. “Right now we don’t have any updates on that, but we’re hard at work on it, and we hope to have news soon,” Pierre-Loup Griffais of Valve told The Verge. This is a shift from earlier commitments, when Valve promised both devices would ship this year.
The good news is that you don’t need a Steam Machine to use the new controller. It works with any computer running Steam, and it can even function as a generic controller for phones. Fans have been clamoring for a successor to the original cult-classic Steam Controller , or essentially, the Steam Deck’s controls shrunk into a standalone gamepad , ever since the Deck launched. In 2022, Valve’s hardware team hinted it would love to make that dream a reality, and now it has.
According to Jay, the new Steam Controller delivers almost exactly what he hoped for. He describes playing Steam Deck games on his TV with a more comfortable pad that preserves his controller profiles and muscle memory.
Still, the delay of Valve’s other hardware leaves the Steam Controller reviews feeling slightly incomplete. We couldn’t test how well the controller works with the Steam Machine’s dedicated antenna, or how it performs in virtual reality with the Steam Frame , though the controller does have built-in infrared LEDs that the headset cameras can track, making it a visible object in VR.
Despite that, we’re impressed with what we’ve seen, and Valve shared a few extra details:
- The company is still working on offering replacement parts for the Steam Controller and remains partnered with iFixit for those repairs.Finally, for anyone wondering about the future of the Steam Deck, Griffais said Valve is “working hard on trying to address that,” but acknowledged it’s challenging because “the world is a different place than it was last year.”
