Valve launched the Steam Controller a decade ago. It was designed to make traditional PC games playable on TVs alongside the original Steam Machine, which was never released. Now, Valve has announced… Second generation Steam controller Along with the newly revived Steam Machine living room console mini-computer system.
I bought the original Steam controller upon release and never liked it much. But later I got a Steam Deck and fell in love with it. Now I’m looking forward to the new Steam controller.
Meanwhile, I grabbed the old Steam controller that was collecting dust, and fired it up Half life 2And gave him a second chance. How does the original compare to the second generation console? It turns out that Valve has learned a lot over the years.
Valve understands the biggest mistake Steam console made
Microsoft’s Xbox controller is the de facto standard for PC gaming, although you can technically use a Sony DualShock controller or even a Nintendo Switch Pro controller. (Learn more about all this in our non-BS guide to game consoles for PC gaming.)
What’s the one thing all of these consoles have in common? They all have a joystick and directional pad. Meanwhile, the original Steam controller had only one joystick and two touch trackpads.
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Although these trackpads feel good to use and their haptic feedback is great, there’s a big problem: they’re a poor experience for games designed with standard controllers in mind. You’re stuck using the left pad as a directional pad and the right pad instead of the right joystick.
In Valve’s quest to make keyboard-and-mouse PC games work with consoles, the Steam controller provided a worse experience for those same games. Shortly after purchasing the original Steam controller all those years ago, I found myself looking for an Xbox controller instead. Input and design became more logical.
Valve learned from all of this when they finally designed the Steam Deck. The Steam Deck still has tactile trackpads on each side, however it is also It has two real joysticks and Direction pad. It doesn’t abandon the classic console experience, but builds on it instead. The new Steam Controller keeps things going with its Steam Deck-style design of a joystick, directional pad, and two touch trackpads.
The input layouts were not ready for the masses
The original Steam controller was overwhelming. It combined controller elements with mouse and keyboard elements, requiring games to map configurations to Steam controller inputs. Fortunately, you didn’t have to do it yourself — Steam was full of community-created layouts for individual games. But they vary greatly in quality.
In short, the Steam Controller had a huge learning curve with complex controller layouts and multi-function buttons that changed what they did depending on which other buttons were retained. Not only did it vary from game to game, it varied as well inside games. I had a hard time building muscle memory and spent a lot of time glancing at input guides. It was easier to use the Xbox controller.
Chris Hoffman/Foundry
When the Steam Deck arrived, the overall experience was much more polished. Games designed with consoles in mind “just work” with the Steam Deck’s controls, unlike the original Steam Controller. This interests me because games that “only work” on the Steam Deck should also “only work” on Valve’s new Steam console!
A rebirth of the steam machine and the steam controller with it
Valve is launching the new Steam console alongside the revived Steam Machine: a Linux-based gaming PC that runs SteamOS in a small, console-like box intended for playback on TVs. The Steam Controller is supposed to make it easier to play PC games in your living room without any fuss or interference required from developers or players.
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This was not true of the original Steam Machine. The ecosystem was still very small and SteamOS couldn’t play many games at all. Today, it can run an entire world of Windows PC games thanks to the Proton compatibility layer, solving this huge problem once and for all. But at that time? Very few Steam games supported Linux at launch.
This is one of the big reasons why I’m not motivated to invest serious time into my Steam controller. If I can’t play most computer games in my living room, what’s the point? I might also stick with the traditional keyboard and mouse and use an Xbox controller for console-focused gaming – which is pretty much what I did.
Chris Hoffman/Foundry
Valve has come a long way since then, and the living room laptop gaming console Steam Machine has an ecosystem ready to do what it’s always wanted to do. And this time, as with the Steam Deck, Valve is making its own hardware.
The future is bright for Steam
After picking up the original Steam controller again and using it alongside a modern Xbox controller, I was amazed at how much better Microsoft’s controller felt in my hands. The Steam Controller feels a little more awkward and less solid, and is a bit “hollow” and “plastic” to me.
When I turn on the Steam Controller and hear the beep over the speaker — and feel the soft, hollow plastic cover in my hand — I can’t help but think: “This sounds like an engineering prototype.”
Steam Deck is not like that. I love the design of the Steam Deck! In fact, it feels more comfortable than larger, heavier Windows gaming laptops I’ve used. Valve has learned its lessons, and appears to have applied them to the second-gen console.
I’m excited for Valve’s new hardware. The Steam Controller and Steam Machine are worth a reboot. Bring them!