We asked Valve why there aren't more Steam Controller-style gamepads designed for PC first.
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605d

Beating mouse + KB is hard and people already have good enough Xbox/ps controllers to justify buying another

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13d

The absolutely unplayable stick drift in my last 3 Xbox one controllers says otherwise.

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125d

This is the correct answer. I use a controller on console because I have to. There are very few game genres (imho) where a controller is superior to a mouse.

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75d

It’s just a personal experience thing for some games. I use controller (8bitdo Pro PS style) for FFXIV, Monster Hunter games, and a few smaller games that use third person overhead (Isometric?) as well as general turn based RPGs, but almost never for anything that feels similar to a shooter. Ark, Warframe, BG3, and a bunch of other survival/builder games, X4 etc are all keyboard and mouse.

There are some that may seem like they’re in the wrong category, like the Horizon games are controller for me despite having a lot of aiming mechanics, but again it’s all personal feeling of comfort. I don’t argue for either one to other people; just use what feels good to you.

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175d

To add onto your point, a lot of games where mouse+keyboard isn’t the best set of inputs, neither is a controller. Things like flight games or racing games.

Cethin
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12d

I’m now thinking of an amazing feature the Steam Controller could have had that would have made it actually above other controllers. If the pads also had programmable screens, you could have throttle displays and stuff on them, that are set by touch. It still wouldn’t be a flight stick, but it’d be a lot closer. That ability would actually justify it above other controllers. Currently it seems good, but I’ve already got controllers and can’t justify $99 for another one.

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5d

Exactly, honestly fighting games are the only genre I can think of where a controller is better than keyboard/mouse… maybe platformers?

Edit: again this is my personal opinion. I knew a guy back when lan parties were still a thing that would play shooters with a trackball and he would annihilate everyone. We all got our preferences :)

Keshara
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105d

Souls like games are pretty much always far superior on controller imo over m+kb. M+kb just feels janky for me in souls likes

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35d

Yea I can see that -I suck so bad at souls games I tend not to play them much anymore

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14d

Rock Band drum kit is the only non-pleb way to play soulslikes

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14d

Yeah they don’t make them with mouse and keyboard in mind or even pcs at all despite elden ring launching on steam at the same time. First version of Elden ring you couldn’t two hand a weapon, not possible with the default key binding. Also first patch had the funniest item on it, something like “Fix to use the GPU”.

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25d

I actually bought a Logitech trackball mouse shortly after I got my PC. My grandpa used to use one and I thought it might have been good for some gaming, but it had been too long since I last used it so it didn’t feel right.

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35d

I have a third-party Xbox controller that’s my main gamepad, and I bought a PS3 controller a while back for emulating PlayStation games (there was one game I played that I literally needed the controller for a specific mechanic/functionality).

My Xbox controller actually has a couple extra buttons on the back/bottom that you can program to be other buttons; I set them to be alternate bumpers so I don’t have to hold the controller in that weird claw way.

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15d

lol I too know the pain of relying on PS3 controllers for games with pressure-sensitive button inputs.

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14d

Mine was a motion control mini game that I couldn’t just skip

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14d

At least gyro is a pretty ubiquitous feature at this point, but I wouldn’t be surprised if pressure-sensitive face buttons die with the PS3.

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