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.
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The difference is that the Steam Deck actually uses fairly traditional controls. Two joysticks, face buttons, d-pad (not that anyone uses the d-pad), multiple back triggers.
This thing was been really weird with its three analogue inputs (how am I supposed to use three analogue inputs) and every other button was limited. It also existed in a world where I can just get an Xbox controller and plug it into my PC, and it just works, so what’s the point anyway?
This thing isn’t even particularly good at controlling the steam deck, which kind of proves the point that it never really made sense as a product.
Ive never been a fan of joysticks, so when they announced this I was super excited for the track pads. I wanted to love them, but I could never get used to them. They feel super unnatural, even for FPS, to the point where I was longing for joysticks.
I really liked it, especially for FPS/TPS
One thing I think it was missing is some kind of native API. It emulated keyboard/mouse or gamepad, or both. And it kind of worked, but sometimes a bit clunky. Like if you tried to use it as mouse for aiming and as gamepad stick game would be confused and switch control hints from gamepad to keyboard/mouse and back.
With native API developers could’ve directly implement it as another type of controller and add things like hints saying “use right trackpad to aim”, tweek controls mapping for it’s layout, sensitivity, etc
Not sure how many developers would’ve supported that though
Prey was great in that department actually having a config that mapped mouse to the right touchpad instead of emulating a joystick like so many games did, and then had different action sets that automatically switched depending on if it was gameplay or you were in the menu. And showed proper icons like the touchpad click to reflect Steam Input mappings people set it to.
I spent more time fucking with that thing’s settings than actually playing games. Give me a normal controller every day of the week. Just cause it was niche doesn’t meant it was good.
I was confused when I saw that it was discontinued. I bought several in 2015 and still have them.
I got a $50 GameStop gift card in 2015 as part of some hackathon I went to— which was cool since as a kid didn’t have a credit card or anything; and bought the steam controller with it, would play CS:GO with it between class. Still my favorite controller and one of the only ones that lets you change the turn on sound too.
I prefer AA for controllers actually. Rechargeable AAs are good these days and you can just swap them out. I actually really hate this trend of integrated batteries in things where it isnt necessary. Yeah we need new form factors of replaceable batteries, but the switch from replaceable and standardized to neither is definitely causing problems and costing us money.
8Bitdo controllers are pretty hit and miss, but this is a big hit for them. The Pro series (and maybe others) comes with a rechargeable battery but the slot also fits 2 AA batteries.
If only they could get their software more feature rich and consistent.
Took me a long time but I settled on Xbox one controllers. I use rechargable batteries but can run the AAs if u want. AA batteries have longer shelf life if u let the controller sit long periods vs rechargeables always seem to discharge. Support in just about every game. Can be had reasonable price on sale now and then and lots of parts available for them. Id never buy a controller with a non replaceable battery!
Trying to find replacement batteries for integrated batteries is a pain too, since might not be able to find an OEM replacement or battery from a reputable brand. So you end up having to go with whatever random no name battery that could be worse than the OEM battery and end up dying after less than a year.
My preference is rechargeable AA or AAA. And even better if the controller itself can recharge the battery like drone controllers.
I got some good rechargeable AA for my controllers about three years ago and will never go back. I have one pair more than controllers and I always have a charged pair read to switch out if needed.
I got 2500mAh batteries from duracell and the charge lasts for days of activity on my xbox controllers. Longer than my PS4 controllers with integrated battery for sure.
I’m still using the same AA eneloops I used since I picked up my Steam Controller all the way back in 2015-2016. And I also used it with my 360 controller too. Just keeps chugging along being good for a month before I need to swap.
Yeah the PS4 battery life has been crap and I don’t know why. Was finally able to replace Sony controllers with 8bitdo now that Steam provides support for the extra buttons to be mapped to unique keys and use analog triggers and gyro together. So been nice not having to spend money on the dualsense, which doesn’t even have hall effects/TMR sticks.
I prefer 38650 batteries.
I don’t think the idea was mature enough. Yes it did try to innovate and do new things but it also was trying very hard to be familiar to an audience that was never going to embrace change while not changing enough for a new audience to develop around it. I would compare it to the Dvorak keyboard, a device that offered only marginal improved efficiency and use while requiring the user to completely relearn from the ground up and have to fight muscle memory for those who used the popular medium it meant to replace. And in the end, most people said it wasn’t worth it.
I was initially intrigued by having buttons on the bottom of the controller, where your fingers naturally would be thus freeing your thumbs to stay on the pad/sticks. And imagine my frustration to realize those rear buttons are just extensions of triggers already on top. Huge missed opportunity imo that a redesign could have given dedicated buttons on the back of the controller to each finger and expand the possibilities for input combos a player can perform.
TL;DR I think the controller was a valiant effort to innovate but didn’t go far enough or do anything sell enough to stick.
I was initially intrigued by having buttons on the bottom of the controller, where your fingers naturally would be thus freeing your thumbs to stay on the pad/sticks. And imagine my frustration to realize those rear buttons are just extensions of triggers already on top.
My set up approach to having both my thumbs stay on the pads a majority of the time has been to set up a dpad modeshift with an inverted outer ring bind so clicking up, down, left, right, center output different inputs. And depending on the game I’d set up a chord so holding the left grip and clicking the right pad would output a different set of 5 inputs. And my right grip is set to jump so with the left grip chord function for 5 additional inputs on a right pad click if needed for a total of 10 that’s been my way of doing that.
So for like Doom Eternal I swap between weapons every shot to bypass reloading through the right touchpad. I like that approach better than using stuff like weapon wheels, which in some games actually slows down the actual gameplay and interrupts the flow.
Actually, those rear buttons are unique. They are not the same triggers and buttons. They are highly useful in FPS games for functions like crouch.
On the steamdeck maybe, on the steam controller they are only r1/l1 buttons, I tried many times to change them and the software can’t different them
This isn’t true, the back buttons on the steam controller can be mapped independently.
You are most likely misremembering, there are many controllers that do similar things to what you describe, but the steam controller isn’t one of them.
Typing on this thing was a dream.
Really hoping the rumors of a new steam controller are true!
I wanted to like this thing so bad. I tried it so many times I just cannot get used to the trackpad for anything beyond top down environment or platformers. Once I need a second joystick as an input it was game over.
How did you use the touchpad. My approach has been to adjust the sensitivity of the touchpad until an edge to edge swipe does a 180, and for gyro having a 90 degree rotation of the controller do 675 degree rotation in game for first person and 450 degrees for third person. Made it a consistent aim experience no matter what game I played as long as the mouse input in the game was good and didn’t do things like emulate a joystick causing negative acceleration.
And for the right touchpad I set a dpad modeshift with an inverted outer ring bind so clicking up, down, left, right, center output different inputs so I didn’t have to reach down to the facebuttons as often. And depending on the game I’d set up a chord so holding the left grip and clicking would output a different set of 5 inputs.
And I just saved the template so I didn’t need to set it up all the time.
Liked it for Doom Eternal, since I could activate gyro, swipe the camera to quickly turn, and click to swap between weapons every shot to bypass reloading all on the right touchpad.
And pvp games like The Finals clicking the right pad to switch through gadgets and using the touchpad to quickly turn and activate gyro, and not feeling like my inputs were too slow versus mouse users. And not having to bother with aim assist.
I had a setup for fromsoft games that activated the gyro when I touched the track pad. So I could swipe the pad for fast camera turns and use the gyro for fine aim. My steam controllers battery terminals were both damaged by cell bursts though. I miss the camera agility now.
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.
Nice try, but that’s not why I hated it.
This smug revisionism triggers me hard. As a hard core steam fan I loved the idea of the SC, I bought it and really tried to use it, but the reality was just too clunky for primary use. It has no dpad, a single crappy convex analog stick, terribly placed ABXY buttons, horrible shoulder buttons, and just a bit too much input lag on the trackpads. On top all that was (actually, still is) a remapping system that’s way too convoluted to use regularly. There’s also the sad fact that alarmingly many games don’t allow simultaneous gamepad and mouse inputs, and simulating the mouse through right stick inputs feels like shit. I really didn’t find any use case where it’s ergonomically superior to a regular gamepad beside the always cited Civ on the Couch, and I’ve tried with sooo many games.
The deck’s control layout fixes most of the issues – the placement is better (except maybe the Salvador Dali inspired B button but I digress), there is a great d pad, two pretty good analog sticks and the input is snappier. Surprise surprise, the deck is a success.
Was the SC innovative, bold and ahead of its time in many ways? Sure. Was it a good controller to play games with? Hell no.
Fully agree. I tried to make the SC work and wrote off a lot of it as “I’m just not used to it”, but it really is asking a lot. In its defence, it was a first run product. The fact that it’s still ass usable and as weird is impressive enough to me. But it’s better as a piece of gaming history than a good product. It was just a good try.
I also agree with the Steam deck controls being actually good. I want the SC2 that’s just a steam deck without the screen or computer.
So I guess the opposite of the steam brick.
I’d gladly pay $100 to have a steam deck like control scheme for my desktop. Rechargeable batteries and a Linux first design would be awesome. I don’t mind just using cables all the time, but I would like better wireless options for Linux gamepads (though to be fair, I haven’t tried connecting a wireless controller to a Linux box in 5 years).
I bought it and really tried to use it, but the reality was just too clunky for primary use. It has no dpad, a single crappy convex analog stick, terribly placed ABXY buttons, horrible shoulder buttons, and just a bit too much input lag on the trackpads.
Hard truths.
Why did they feel the need to replace analog controls with these weird, inconsistently responsive, difficult to map touch controls when every other console platform had already demonstrated why that’s a bad idea?
Was the SC innovative, bold and ahead of its time in many ways?
NO. It was kitsch and poorly engineered and obviously not play tested sufficiently before release. It was a hobbyist’s attempt at reinventing the mousetrap that got shoved into a major distribution pipeline when Playstation and Nintendo and XBox had already demonstrated why you don’t build controllers this way ten years earlier.
Why did they feel the need to replace analog controls with these weird, inconsistently responsive, difficult to map touch controls when every other console platform had already demonstrated why that’s a bad idea?
I have no idea what you’re talking about. The DS4 had a trackpad that was clearly positioned and intended for menu navigation. Nobody used trackpads as a primary game control input before the SC. That’s not because sticks are some god-given pinnacle of technology but because potentiometer-based sticks are cheap and people are used to them. Analog sticks were always, and still are, a crappy way to control a camera. Building a 1:1 thumb based input source into a controller absolutely was innovative and, like it or hate it, I don’t see how you can contest that. The Steam Deck’s pads are actually pretty great to use.
Playstation and Nintendo and XBox had already demonstrated why you don’t build controllers this way ten years earlier.
Again, what are you talking about? The SC was released in 2015.
I have 2. I absolutely love it. I prefer it for playing 3rd person games like the witcher and monster hunter too. I like the granular control and momentum for panning around the world.
I bought the second one for $5 when valve was doing the discontinuation liquidation sale. Someone commented that the Vive wands use the same track pads and other parts, so it’s a no brainer to buy one to have the parts on hand. At this point the Vive wands are extra parts for keeping my steam controllers going.
I have one of these, and it’s my least favorite controller I’ve ever owned. The touch sticks feel like the touch controls in my car… They leave me wanting real, tactile controls.
It was truly a piece of shit. Imagine trying to play a game with a cheap touchpad. Worst controller I’ve ever owned.
I think it’s been fine in Doom Eternal, Left 4 Dead 2, The Finals, etc.
Was the first controller that allowed me to completely drop aim assist for good and not feel slow against PC players and offer keyboard like functionality for input swapping.
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I’ve had a PS5. Gave it away. I still have an Xbox. I don’t even know if its plugged in. The steam deck got me back into gaming in a way that I haven’t been in years. I feel like a kid again with the amazement of a piece of technology that can entertain me the way the steam deck can. I even bought a dbrand skin for it just because I love it so much. I’m playing prototype 2 and my fiancee is playing baldurs gate. When we have money we want to buy another one so we don’t have to share lol
It’s a brillant device, I often use it more than my PC.
It gives me the feeling that playing the Gameboy as a kid gave me. The switch would only make my hands cramp because the controls are only made for small hands.
