Valve have now confirmed the new Steam Controller is launching May 4th, and they've confirmed the pricing too. They're launching without the Steam Machine and Steam Frame, sadly. Valve have been stuck in a hard place here with the prices of components rising due to AI companies and there's no new information on when they might appear just yet.
The Steam Controller will be priced at US: $99 USD / Canada: $149 CAD / EU: €99 / UK: £85 / AUD 149 / PLN 419. Those prices Valve say are “inclusive of VAT where applicable”. It will work across any system that has Steam including PCs and Laptops, Steam Deck and eventually of course the Steam Frame and Steam Machine too. Basically anywhere that Steam Input works.
From the press release Valve just sent:
- High-performance, ergonomic controller:
- Next-generation magnetic thumbsticks with TMR technology
- Full-sized controls
- Trackpads
- Grip buttons
- Grip-enabled Gyro (Grip Sense)
- Comes with a cool puck!
- Puck serves as a wireless transmitter for a fast, stable connection
- ...and it's also a charging station (clicks in magnetically to your Controller)
- Battery life capable of supporting 35+ hours of gameplay
Valve said it will release around May 4th, 2026, at 10 a.m. Pacific / 5PM UTC.
Where will it be available? The Steam Controller will be available on Steam in the following regions: U.S., CA, U.K., EU, and AU; as well as in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan through Komodo Station in those regions.
See more in the Valve blog post.
Direct Link
Reviews elsewhere have gone live as various websites and YouTube channels (like Gamers Nexus) had access early, but as of yet Valve have not supplied GamingOnLinux with one. I'm hoping we'll see one eventually.
As one of the biggest fans of the original Steam Controller, I'm keen to see in my own hands how much it has improved since their first attempt.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Quoting: Doktor-MandrakeSo is there any confirmation if steam-input/steam is required for it to work?I believe it was an IGN interview where they said it is first and foremost designed to work with Steam, but also functions as a basic HID device (emulating mouse and keyboard), so you can navigate BIOS screens with it, for example. It was noted that it does NOT work with consoles. But it wasn't entirely clear if it would work out of the box as a gamepad outside of Steam. I suspect it will work with games that utilize SDL3, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Linux kernel support for it eventually, but perhaps not initially.
I agree that it would be nice if it worked OOB like a regular controller across platforms, or had some way to configure via a QMK UI.
The only two features I'd really like to see are:
• RGB LEDs behind/around each key that I could customize.
• spinners around the thumb sticks like the Atari Gamestation Go has.
• bonus: small or full width screen attachment. Double bonus if it has a speaker or two.
I think additional grips and skins will be readily available via third parties.
Though, I'm not sure why Valve doesn't have fun cashing in on a great variety of these. They could easily enough deal with publishers for limited edition artwork on controller covers and such. They ought to be shipping things like this out to other retailers, or set up for them to handle things behind the scenes and ship directly themselves.
(lulz at the hyperthetical Good Old Games skins)
Hey, where are the GOL [Dbrand] skins‽ Would anyone else rep the cool penguin dude on eir Deck, Steam Controllers, or anything?
Stickers that say "Yes, I am GamingOnLinux" would be really fun to put on a laptop. 😉😉
Also, I have four of the original Steam Controllers. Two of which have never been opened. 😋
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