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Steam Controller review leaks, but price of Steam Machine accessory may disappoint
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this post was submitted on 25 Apr 2026
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99$ seems perfectly fine. I mean I use this accessory on a device costing 1000$+.
Has the Steam Machine price been announced, or are you referring to PCs?
PCs, should have been clearer. But with current RAM prices who knows what thr Steam machine costs 🥲
$99 isn't bad at all when you compare what you can do with it to any 'pro gamer' controller out there. It has massive programmable potential comparatively to a normal Xbox controller. Pro controllers usually run $150 and up. Yes this is pricier than a shit ass China controller but you're also getting a massive amount of flexibility with it.
I appreciate the enthusiasm but the controller market offers way more than you think. There are fantastic controllers with great hardware and software for less than a standard Xbox controller. I went deep after two Xbox controllers failed fairly quickly and I expect great things from any controller that is $100. I’ve gotten used to mechanical switches, strong layouts, software and software-free options with onboard memory, and so on.
There are no controllers, no matter the price point, with touchpads like this, capacitive thumb sticks etc. And the stuff you can do with Steams controller settings is WAY beyond any other controller software.
Do share your wisdom. By which I mean the sauce.
Functionally, you can do the same Steam Input customization on a $50 8bitdo that you can on this $100 controller.
Just no trackpads.
Notably, Linux support sucks with those. I have one, and you can't do any of this on Linux through their software. There are ways to do it still though, as you can do with any controller really.
Is there any 8bitdo controller with 4 additional back buttons, too? Those are clutch for dual stick games; I'm almost always remapping then to the face buttons so I never need to stop moving or looking to do an action.
But yeah; the touchpads are critical. So many games become playable with touchpads. Nested radial menus allow for effectively infinitely many controls, which allows for most simulation games. Many Path of Exile builds are unplayable without back buttons and trackpad radial menus, due to input requirements.
tbh, I often play games on my Deck instead of my gaming PC for the controller. It's really that good. (Although nothing beats kB+mouse for FPSs.)
For its feature set, nah feels fine. I’ll likely preorder it. Still cheaper than pro controllers, but has all the inputs I’d expect from those, and more.
The Steam Deck has an absolutely fantastic set of inputs. If the new controller comes with the all the same bells and whistles then it will be well worth the price.
What do you mean "if"? All the features have been shown and they are all there, even some more than the deck has. They were all shown for It's announcement, literally the very first moment everyone heard about it.
Hey man, we don't all keep up with controller news. This is your opportunity to provide good news about this to someone. No need to be harsh.
It's a better value than the console makers pro controllers. Looking to use the touchpads on an HTPC
For comparison, Sony's DualSense is 75 USD when not on sale.
Wild how the previous Steam Controller was such a flop that Valve had to clear their inventory by selling them all for $5 each, and now the new Steam Controller is going to be $100 out the gate.
I've been really looking forward to this, especially as a Bazzite HTPC Steam Box controller, but that feels shockingly steep to me.
Was it really a flop? I thought they needed to clear stock because of some patent dispute with Crucial
I do believe Valve actually learns lessons from failure. They certainly seem to have with the new Steam Machine vs the old Steam Machine. Making it a console-like device instead of somekind of ecosystem. So I am leaning toward the new Controller not being a massive pile of shit.
The failure of the controller was because they lost a patent lawsuit against Crucial, not because it was a bad product.
Oh for sure. I liked the original Steam Controller for what it was and I'm excited for the new one to give me a Deck-like experience on my Bazzite PC. I'm confident this will be a good controller.
I just think it's kind of a big swing going from the $5 bargain bin device to the $100 follow up. I wonder how many people are going to think they can wait for this one to go into clearance?
I'm pretty sure that the original sold for something like 45 or 50 at the time. Maybe more.
I actually got a couple of those $5 controllers for spare parts before it shut down, I'm glad someone else remembers that actually happened.
I feel ripped off at getting 4 for $15 each!
Disappoint? That's a reasonable price lol
$99 USD is hard to justify. 8BitDo Ultimate is half the price and a great controller.
It has more features than an Ultimate 2, and has one of a kind joystick tech. It's also going to be what they test Steam machine against, so it's the most likely to interface well with any game. It certainly makes sense for it to go for around 100, especially since that's still way below the pro Xbox and PlayStation controllers.
People forgetting the "pro" controllers of consoles are $200??
$99 is incredibly reasonable for all the tech you are getting with this thing.
Ultimate 2 also has TMR joysticks. I love mine.
Oof. That hurts. Was planning to pick this up but at that price I may wait...
It's closer to 2/3 the price than 1/2. It also does a lot less.
Not that I don't love almost everything 8bitdo.
Yikes. I get it's a lot of hardware crammed into a controller. Even the OG Steam Controller was only $50. I still have mine, sitting in a box somewhere. I don't know if one extra pad and joystick is enough to justify upgrading. Especially when practically no game supports the thing.
Technically every game supports it since steam Input allows you to remap any possible input from KBM or a traditional controller onto it.
I guess it may be more intuitive for steam deck owners.
You are technically right in that Steam Input allows you to map every input for each game. But that's an additional layer Steam provides over the game. It's not the game natively supporting the controller itself like you get with the console maker's controllers. Ever notice how many games don't have proper icons for Steam Controller? Or how in game trackpad support is almost non existent? Steam does all the work to make the controller work and it's great, but it's not the same as the game natively supporting the controller.
What you're saying is entirely correct: Steam Input not the same thing as maybe in-game support. Steam Input is usually better.
With Steam Input, I can customize it to do anything I want:
- Gyro + stick aiming
- Touchpads as buttons
- Touchpads with nested radial menus
- Input cycling on the same input (think like alternating using potion 1 vs. potion 2 to split cooldowns)
- Gesture 180° turns
- Multi-input macros
Ain't no game ever going to give you that level of control.
Steam Input has spoiled me to the point that I barely ever game on my gaming desktop. Steam Input trumps a 32" 1440p screen with higher fps and graphics settings. It's that important to me that I'd rather play on a 7" screen with 40 fps.
yeah after getting the steam deck the steam controller is amazing! It could be better since the steam deck pad feels better, maybe this controller will be perfect. But no way I'm spending 100$ on a controller, the original steam deck 64 GB was like 300 something
It's not shocking considering the price of console controllers
The only reason you'd buy one is if you're going to use the touchpads, because otherwise this looks pretty expensive and bulky. Especially for PC, there are some really good relatively cheap 3rd party controllers now. I have a friend that bought a ~$20 GameSir controller and is very happy with it .