Steam Beta gets battery indicator for wireless gamepads as the new Steam Controller nears

I am preemptively disappointed at these being sold out before I even get a chance to load the order page.

Last edited by apotato on 26 Apr 2026 at 6:56 am UTC

Price leaked via an early review: $99

Have Valve talked at all about using the Steam Controller on games outside of Steam? I own more games in my GOG library and if the controller doesn't function with games not added to the Steam launcher, that's a deal breaker for me. I don't even need the touchpad and gyro to work, just having the main controller function as a Xinput pad would be good enough for me.

Last edited by PaldinoX on 25 Apr 2026 at 6:16 pm UTC

Quoting: PaldinoXHave Valve talked at all about using the Steam Controller on games outside of Steam? I own more games in my GOG library and if the controller doesn't function with games not added to the Steam launcher, that's a deal breaker for me. I don't even need the touchpad and gyro to work, just having the main controller function as a Xinput pad would be good enough for me.

That's a Xinput controller. A recent kernel and recent sdl2 or sdl3 should be sufficient.

Last edited by rea987 on 25 Apr 2026 at 6:44 pm UTC

Quoting: PaldinoXI don't even need the touchpad and gyro to work, just having the main controller function as a Xinput pad would be good enough for me.

If you don't need the touchpad or gyro to work, why do you want a $100 Steam Controller? There are several very good third party controllers that work just fine in Linux, for Steam, GOG and otherwise. I suggest the 8bitDo Ultimate 2.

I wonder if the sc-controller maintainers are planning to support the Steam Controller 2. Could be neat to use it for Luanti or SuperTuxKart.

Quoting: kuhpunktPrice leaked via an early review: $99

I forget how much I paid for the original Steam Controller, but I'm pretty sure it was less than half of that. I realize there are "premium-priced" controllers on the market, but $99 seems high.

Quoting: PaldinoXHave Valve talked at all about using the Steam Controller on games outside of Steam? I own more games in my GOG library and if the controller doesn't function with games not added to the Steam launcher, that's a deal breaker for me. I don't even need the touchpad and gyro to work, just having the main controller function as a Xinput pad would be good enough for me.

you can change your desktop layout to a normal gamepad layout to make it work

Quoting: kuhpunktPrice leaked via an early review: $99

Damn. I was hoping for closer to 70.

Quoting: Johnologue

Quoting: kuhpunktPrice leaked via an early review: $99

Damn. I was hoping for closer to 70.

Wait for a Steam sale, I guess. 😃

“ macOS

Fixed soundtrack playback not working on Apple Silicon machines. “

Sounds promising for Apple that Steam might be supporting Apple. They might even get Proton working on their OS the same way it does on Linux.

Steam Controller 1 used AA batteries, hence the lack of a battery monitor. If Steam Controller is being upgraded to rechargeable then that explains battery indicator, plus Bluetooth connectivity and you have a worthy upgrade.

Quoting: PhlebiacI realize there are "premium-priced" controllers on the market, but $99 seems high.

Eh, premium controllers (not talking about racing wheels, which can go into 4 digits, or VR equipment, which can hit 5 digits) are more like 250-ish USD, and that's without going into the silly 'expensive for the sake of being expensive' stuff like limited edition character controllers or gold-plated controllers or stuff like that.

Finally this was sorely missed. 😀

Quoting: kuhpunktPrice leaked via an early review: $99

In-line with other controllers. Not too surprised.

Quoting: kuhpunktPrice leaked via an early review: $99

Can't quite pin that on RAM, unless jacking up the controller prices is part of that plan.

I also appreciate Valve probably isn't ordering a production run comparable to what a Sony needs at minimum, but still - it's too high. The thing is, this is a compromise controller. It doesn't (apparently) have all the features a, say, Sony controller would have, and it won't replace a mouse. The potential use cases for me don't quite justify a purchase "even" at $70.

Last edited by such on 26 Apr 2026 at 11:44 am UTC

Quoting: suchIt doesn't (apparently) have all the features a, say, Sony controller would have, and it won't replace a mouse.

Let's see now, according to the announcement:

• Capacitive touch magnetic thumbsticks


• Grip sense to activate/deactivate gyro


• Twin touchpads with haptic motors


• 4 assignable back buttons

Basically seems like Sony's Dualsense but more to me, and it could conceivably replace a mouse in the same way a keyboard nub or trackball can.

Last edited by tmtvl on 26 Apr 2026 at 1:04 pm UTC

A hundred dollars will hopefully translate to around £75 or so, maybe less.

A dualsense (PS5) controller is still £65 and doesn't have the dual touchpad or rear buttons, so I'm pretty comfortable with that pricing if it pans out as I hope.