The original Steam Controller is undoubtedly one of the coolest pieces of gear I own—and one of the most innovative, too.
I got mine right when it launched in 2015. I wanted to solve a very real problem: I was trying to turn my PC into a console.
You see, Valve had Big Picture Mode, which truly turned your PC into a console-like experience. The problem was that some of my favorite PC games didn’t support controllers. They were keyboard-and-mouse only.
But then—here comes the Steam Controller. Suddenly, I was able to reprogram all the inputs. I could take basic keys, like the spacebar, and map them to a button on the controller—like the A button. And once you did that, you could share your controller configuration with the Steam community, or reuse a config someone else already made. It was pretty awesome.
And those dual trackpads? They were swank. Incredible for first-person shooters and real-time strategy games. They were the next best thing to a mouse. And because of the angle of the handles, it all felt very comfortable in the hand—probably the most comfortable controller experience I’ve ever had.
It’s funny—just a little over five years ago, gamers hated it. Not because they ever used one, but because it was a failure. And as we all know about gamers, there’s nothing they hate more than a failure. It was dismissed as a novelty—something no one would ever use again.
Well, Valve had the last laugh. A few years ago, they released the Steam Deck. And what do you know? It’s a direct evolution of the Steam Controller. And now everyone loves the Steam Deck.
Just take a look at it—it’s got so many of the same things the Steam Controller had: dual trackpads, back paddles, the ability to remap buttons and customize layouts. Having owned a Steam Deck since launch, I can say this confidently: the most killer features on the Deck originated with the Steam Controller.
That said, it wasn’t perfect. There were a few quirks I wish they had fixed. For one, it would’ve been nice if it had dual analog sticks instead of just one. Using a trackpad in place of a right stick is fine in theory, but let’s be real: a trackpad does not replace an analog stick.
Also, unlike most modern controllers, this one didn’t have a rechargeable battery. You needed AA batteries. Now, to be fair, those batteries lasted a long time—but it still would’ve been nicer to just recharge it and forget about replacements.
Then there’s the back paddles. Only two of them. In hindsight, yeah, Valve knew they needed to evolve. I’ve grown so used to having four back paddles on the Steam Deck. They’re incredibly useful—especially in games with lots of inputs. Just good to have.
Still, this was one of the first mainstream controllers to even have back paddles. So hats off to Valve for that.
Honestly, I really wish there was another Steam Controller on the market. I know Hori makes a licensed controller for the Steam Deck in Japan, but it’s missing a core feature the original had: the dual trackpads.
To me, the dual trackpads make the Steam Deck experience. It’s something almost no other handheld has. My wife has a Legion Go, and it does have a trackpad—but only one. And honestly? That makes all the difference. It’s fine. But man… it would’ve been a better handheld with two.
Definitely one of the most innovative controllers ever made.
And yeah, I still use mine. I use it when I dock my handheld. Or when I’m on my living room PC.
That’s cool, if that’s what you want to do. Go nuts, have fun. But there’s a reason it isn’t a particularly mainstream way to engage with PC games.
My argument was never for how it is mainstream, but that I find it more useful than regular controllers which I used before and use now. I’ve found “upgrades” to the xbox, playstation, nintendo controllers with the 8bitdo Ultimate 2. But have yet to find upgrades to the Steam Controller.
You do play mouse and keyboard games on it and love it, and you think it beats sticks because you can spend hours on Steam making overly complicated setups that allow you to macro all sorts of nonses into the trackpads and paddles and whatnot.
And what is mouse and keyboard games these days? Death Stranding, Saints Row, GTA, Dishonored, Uncharted? Doesn’t take me hours to set up either. It might takes hours for you to set up, but for me it’s been as simple as using a pre saved template for mixed input or mouse/keyboard depending on support and adjusting the gyro and remapping some buttons to my preference.
Same thing I end up doing on a regular controller like the 8bitdo Ultimate 2 where I map buttons of the grip and extra bumper from game to game when I opt for it over the Steam Controller. And same process for adjusting the gyro.
I don’t blame people for swearing by it as contrarians.
So my point is yes for you the controller may be useless, but disagree with the instance that people who like it are doing it because they are contrarians. Hell there’s people who take the same stance with gyro trying it out and finding they aren’t proficient at it and insisting it is a gimmick.
I hate this thing with a passion.
It does seem like your hatred of it with a passion as you said is leading to too strong of a bias of rejecting the idea that those who like it do actually like it because for them they find it to be a better controller than traditional joystick controller. I will not disagree with you that it is a bad controller for you. It most definitely is with it causing physical pain for you on top other complaints you have. It is a bad controller for you period.
All I ask is that you open your mind to the possibility that people who do prefer it do actually find it the opposite of what yours is, and they aren’t doing it for the sake of being contrarian. They do actually use it because they do find it better for them.
I mean, for all the quotes you missed the one that explicitly does “all you ask”.
I know that’s not universal, and some people with similar accessiblity problems have the opposite experience. I don’t question that.
The thing with talking to each other on the Internet while disagreeing (respectfully) is that we end up having to parse which of the parts we disagree in to even have an argument about. I don’t mind people liking the Steam controller, but I’m also not shy at calling out the ways in which its rough edges are not a me thing.
I think it’s undeniable that it’s pretty plasticky. I think I can make a pretty solid argument about its setup and usability being overengineered while not getting to the ostensible goal (mouse and keyboard on a controller format, presumably). And for what it’s worth, I think the fact that it’s a pretty niche thing goes to show this is the consensus reaction to it.
All of that can be said without taking anything away from the people that like it, I think. But… you know, that doesn’t mean I don’t think they’re wrong about it or that those are all entirely subjective observations about it.
I’ll say that my “hate it with a passion” stance is less about the Steam Controller itself and more about how it keeps sneaking into all of Valve’s hardware. I’ve said this before: I don’t know who’s still stuck on making touchpads happen, but it made my time with the HTC Vive much harder than it had to be and the Steam Deck didn’t need to have Dumbo ears, so I do think there’s a value to reminding people (and Valve specifically) that this isn’t going to happen and everybody else is not jumping into their touchpad fetish for a reason.
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My argument was never for how it is mainstream, but that I find it more useful than regular controllers which I used before and use now. I’ve found “upgrades” to the xbox, playstation, nintendo controllers with the 8bitdo Ultimate 2. But have yet to find upgrades to the Steam Controller.
And what is mouse and keyboard games these days? Death Stranding, Saints Row, GTA, Dishonored, Uncharted? Doesn’t take me hours to set up either. It might takes hours for you to set up, but for me it’s been as simple as using a pre saved template for mixed input or mouse/keyboard depending on support and adjusting the gyro and remapping some buttons to my preference.
Same thing I end up doing on a regular controller like the 8bitdo Ultimate 2 where I map buttons of the grip and extra bumper from game to game when I opt for it over the Steam Controller. And same process for adjusting the gyro.
So my point is yes for you the controller may be useless, but disagree with the instance that people who like it are doing it because they are contrarians. Hell there’s people who take the same stance with gyro trying it out and finding they aren’t proficient at it and insisting it is a gimmick.
It does seem like your hatred of it with a passion as you said is leading to too strong of a bias of rejecting the idea that those who like it do actually like it because for them they find it to be a better controller than traditional joystick controller. I will not disagree with you that it is a bad controller for you. It most definitely is with it causing physical pain for you on top other complaints you have. It is a bad controller for you period.
All I ask is that you open your mind to the possibility that people who do prefer it do actually find it the opposite of what yours is, and they aren’t doing it for the sake of being contrarian. They do actually use it because they do find it better for them.
I mean, for all the quotes you missed the one that explicitly does “all you ask”.
The thing with talking to each other on the Internet while disagreeing (respectfully) is that we end up having to parse which of the parts we disagree in to even have an argument about. I don’t mind people liking the Steam controller, but I’m also not shy at calling out the ways in which its rough edges are not a me thing.
I think it’s undeniable that it’s pretty plasticky. I think I can make a pretty solid argument about its setup and usability being overengineered while not getting to the ostensible goal (mouse and keyboard on a controller format, presumably). And for what it’s worth, I think the fact that it’s a pretty niche thing goes to show this is the consensus reaction to it.
All of that can be said without taking anything away from the people that like it, I think. But… you know, that doesn’t mean I don’t think they’re wrong about it or that those are all entirely subjective observations about it.
I’ll say that my “hate it with a passion” stance is less about the Steam Controller itself and more about how it keeps sneaking into all of Valve’s hardware. I’ve said this before: I don’t know who’s still stuck on making touchpads happen, but it made my time with the HTC Vive much harder than it had to be and the Steam Deck didn’t need to have Dumbo ears, so I do think there’s a value to reminding people (and Valve specifically) that this isn’t going to happen and everybody else is not jumping into their touchpad fetish for a reason.