Every outlet that you are seeing run a headline about the Steam Controller being in someway ‘controversial’ or ‘has a problem’ or ‘may be divisive’ …
I contend that this is an anti-marketing campaign, being run by basically, potentially, the entire AAA gaming industry that isn’t Valve.
Nearly every major AAA game company is currently imploding right now.
Except Valve.
Because Valve is privately held and owned, it doesn’t have a board of investors to answer to, to constantly juice next quarter profits for.
It doesn’t have a gaggle of people who sit on multiple corporate boards simultaneously, who sit on the boards of industry lobbying groups, who sit on the boards of astroturfed ‘consumer rights’ groups.
These people all know each other, or in some cases literally are the same people.
I of course cannot prove this conclusively, but just… look around.
This is nuts, the number of media outlets going with a non positive angle, in the headline… of a product launch.
Also consider that many of Valve’s direct competition has extensive, direct ties to the AI bubble insano-mania, both hardware and software companies.
… Its not normal to have so many different outlets have such a standardized general framing of … a video game controller launch.
This is what a retired ex corpo ex MSFT employee such as myself would describe as sus.
You know, I don‘t think negative reception with the press means there is a smear campaign going on by default. Maybe they simply chose that headline because drama sells.
But it is interesting if you compare it to their headlines about the Switch 2 a year ago. A lot of sugar coating like „feature packed“ with a vague „but…“ at the end to address Nintendo‘s widely unpopular price policy. That‘s the narrative many tech journalists chose to go with prior to the launch at the time.
For one reason or another a lot of them seem biased to me.
Yeah, but summarizing my reasoning as to why I think it is a smear campaign down to ‘by default’… is to completely ignore all of my reasoning, which is frankly rude, and you strawmanning me.
… and then you point out that a comparable recent story/event… actually did have a substantial, already existing controvery… and was generally covered with more ‘positive sentiment’ words in the headlines, but yes did acknowledge the controversy.
… As opposed to essentially inventing it, as they’ve done with the Deck.
Yes, drama sells, if it bleeds it leads, but for some reason, the degree to which headline sentiment matches vs doesn’t match the actual story and pre-existing actual buzz around it, well that varies.
The fact is that the Steam controller is way more feature rich than other controllers from major brands in the same price point. The price tag actually makes sense vs what Nintendo and Microsoft charge for inferior hardware.
Would you pay the same price for a Microsoft controller if it had little pads?
If it had all the other little things like TMR sticks, repair-friendly construction, really deep configuration, and other hardware in the family having a track record of good software support, unironically yes. As much as I hate Microsoft, their accessibility controller was a big win.
Also, it’s not simping to genuinely like a company’s products after using a lot of them.
Especially if it lasts like the first. I have 4x dead Xbox one controllers, and a working steam controller that’s several years older than all of them.
Exactly this, the fact that Valve makes the controller is mostly irrelevant to me (the only difference is that I trust Valve to deliver on their promises, other manufacturers I might wait a few months for reviews, and especially to see it it’s compatible with Linux and SteamInput). But if Microsoft or Sony, or 8BitDo had released a controller with these features for €99 I would have brought it too.
Well since you think this should be cheaper why don’t you go and make your own Steam controller for cheaper and then sell it and rake in all of these absurd profits you keep jerking off about?
Because I’ll be first in line buying that controller from you for $50 or whatever you think it’s “actually worth”.
Until then I’m sorry but you’re blowing smoke up your own ass with your own ignorance.
If you’re gaming on $20 controllers no wonder you don’t see the appeal here, it’s like someone saying “is an Nvidia 5080 really worth 5 Nvidia 3050s?”, completely different audiences.
Good controllers don’t sell cheaper than half the price of a steam controller, so you wouldn’t even be able to buy 2 controllers for the price of this. And there are plenty of controllers a lot more expensive than this that offer no benefits. Even the ones that cost half are, IMO, less than half as feature-rich, so yeah, definitely worth 2 Sony/Xbox/8BitDo controllers.
Are three of these worth a steam deck?
No, because the Steam Deck doesn’t cost 300, only the model they were burning stock did for a little while (that’s like saying the OG steam controller used to cost $5), and that model is no longer being made, so the question is are 6 of this worth a steam deck? But that is also kinda moot since it’s out of stock and might increase in price because of the ram shortage.
I’m not getting paid by Valve, in fact I will be giving them money for this controller as soon as possible. If you only play controller games then yeah, €99 for a controller with just 2 extra buttons and capacitive gyro might be too much (although, the capacitive gyro and extra buttons alone justify the price for me). But no other controller can be used to play mouse games comfortably. The trackpads might not be for you, but to claim they’re not worth it is naive at best, as they’re the ONLY good solution for this problem and no one else is doing them to be able to say “this other controller does the same and is cheaper”.
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Every outlet that you are seeing run a headline about the Steam Controller being in someway ‘controversial’ or ‘has a problem’ or ‘may be divisive’ …
I contend that this is an anti-marketing campaign, being run by basically, potentially, the entire AAA gaming industry that isn’t Valve.
Nearly every major AAA game company is currently imploding right now.
Except Valve.
Because Valve is privately held and owned, it doesn’t have a board of investors to answer to, to constantly juice next quarter profits for.
It doesn’t have a gaggle of people who sit on multiple corporate boards simultaneously, who sit on the boards of industry lobbying groups, who sit on the boards of astroturfed ‘consumer rights’ groups.
These people all know each other, or in some cases literally are the same people.
I of course cannot prove this conclusively, but just… look around.
This is nuts, the number of media outlets going with a non positive angle, in the headline… of a product launch.
Also consider that many of Valve’s direct competition has extensive, direct ties to the AI bubble insano-mania, both hardware and software companies.
… Its not normal to have so many different outlets have such a standardized general framing of … a video game controller launch.
This is what a retired ex corpo ex MSFT employee such as myself would describe as sus.
You know, I don‘t think negative reception with the press means there is a smear campaign going on by default. Maybe they simply chose that headline because drama sells.
But it is interesting if you compare it to their headlines about the Switch 2 a year ago. A lot of sugar coating like „feature packed“ with a vague „but…“ at the end to address Nintendo‘s widely unpopular price policy. That‘s the narrative many tech journalists chose to go with prior to the launch at the time.
For one reason or another a lot of them seem biased to me.
Yeah, but summarizing my reasoning as to why I think it is a smear campaign down to ‘by default’… is to completely ignore all of my reasoning, which is frankly rude, and you strawmanning me.
… and then you point out that a comparable recent story/event… actually did have a substantial, already existing controvery… and was generally covered with more ‘positive sentiment’ words in the headlines, but yes did acknowledge the controversy.
… As opposed to essentially inventing it, as they’ve done with the Deck.
Yes, drama sells, if it bleeds it leads, but for some reason, the degree to which headline sentiment matches vs doesn’t match the actual story and pre-existing actual buzz around it, well that varies.
I like your style
Here’s what it sounds like when I use a computer. =P
No. Valve spends a shit load on marketing and almost none of the articles over the past few days have been anywhere near negative.
100$ for a controller is fucking stupid. If valve wasn’t paying everyone off, they would be getting ripped a new one.
Sony and Microsoft both sell “elite” controllers for much more than that
The Sony one is legit terrible too.
The switch 2 joycons are the same price, and the Xbox elite controller is more for less features.
Ya and no one thinks those are fairly priced. Xbox and Nintendo isn’t the bar.
The fact is that the Steam controller is way more feature rich than other controllers from major brands in the same price point. The price tag actually makes sense vs what Nintendo and Microsoft charge for inferior hardware.
removed by mod
Chief, I think you need a mental health break from the internet.
If it had all the other little things like TMR sticks, repair-friendly construction, really deep configuration, and other hardware in the family having a track record of good software support, unironically yes. As much as I hate Microsoft, their accessibility controller was a big win.
Also, it’s not simping to genuinely like a company’s products after using a lot of them.
Especially if it lasts like the first. I have 4x dead Xbox one controllers, and a working steam controller that’s several years older than all of them.
Exactly this, the fact that Valve makes the controller is mostly irrelevant to me (the only difference is that I trust Valve to deliver on their promises, other manufacturers I might wait a few months for reviews, and especially to see it it’s compatible with Linux and SteamInput). But if Microsoft or Sony, or 8BitDo had released a controller with these features for €99 I would have brought it too.
Maybe you should avoid gaming communities if discussions about gaming hardware triggers you this hard.
Such a well articulated and certainly not unhinged response /s
Well since you think this should be cheaper why don’t you go and make your own Steam controller for cheaper and then sell it and rake in all of these absurd profits you keep jerking off about?
Because I’ll be first in line buying that controller from you for $50 or whatever you think it’s “actually worth”.
Until then I’m sorry but you’re blowing smoke up your own ass with your own ignorance.
If you’re gaming on $20 controllers no wonder you don’t see the appeal here, it’s like someone saying “is an Nvidia 5080 really worth 5 Nvidia 3050s?”, completely different audiences.
Good controllers don’t sell cheaper than half the price of a steam controller, so you wouldn’t even be able to buy 2 controllers for the price of this. And there are plenty of controllers a lot more expensive than this that offer no benefits. Even the ones that cost half are, IMO, less than half as feature-rich, so yeah, definitely worth 2 Sony/Xbox/8BitDo controllers.
No, because the Steam Deck doesn’t cost 300, only the model they were burning stock did for a little while (that’s like saying the OG steam controller used to cost $5), and that model is no longer being made, so the question is are 6 of this worth a steam deck? But that is also kinda moot since it’s out of stock and might increase in price because of the ram shortage.
WTF you basing this on?
What would you compare it to then?
Or do you have the details of the actual costs to manufacture and know the margins Valves has on this hardware?
No of course you don’t, because you are talking out your ass…
Big claims stated as fact that you pulled out of your ass
I’m not getting paid by Valve, in fact I will be giving them money for this controller as soon as possible. If you only play controller games then yeah, €99 for a controller with just 2 extra buttons and capacitive gyro might be too much (although, the capacitive gyro and extra buttons alone justify the price for me). But no other controller can be used to play mouse games comfortably. The trackpads might not be for you, but to claim they’re not worth it is naive at best, as they’re the ONLY good solution for this problem and no one else is doing them to be able to say “this other controller does the same and is cheaper”.