A place to discuss and support all Steam Hardware, including Steam Deck, Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and SteamOS in general.
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https://x.com/valvesoftware/status/2051695149026353424
"Steam Controller ran out faster than we anticipated, and we hate that not everyone who wanted one was able to get it. We’re working on getting more in stock and will have an update on expected timeline soon."
Honestly I don't even blame them for underestimating demand. Based on comments here and my own personal intuition, I would've guessed that it would've sold great, to a very niche audience.
Maybe it has more widespread demand than expected, those track pads make it amazing for any couch PC usage, gaming or not, and many existing SteamDeck owners like myself are already aware of this.
To everyone complaining about scalpers: if you report them on ebay, they will get taken down. Go make their lives harder!
Any listing that went up before the official release date should automatically be flagged and removed
Yeah, agreed. eBay is notorious for being brutal on sellers, taking them down rather easily.
Scam listings are still everywhere though.
Why not just take all the orders now and increase the estimated shipping date? Cut scalpers off at the knees by eliminating FOMO.
I love my original steam controller. I want one of the new ones for when my original eventually breaks. I don't need it now though. So I would be happy to wait, if I knew they weren't going to abandon it like the old controller.
An absolutely based strategy would be to launch a highly anticipated product with falsely constrained supply. Then right as the scalpers start posting their shit release the real supply with like a $10 price reduction and make a big announcement. Scalpers get rekt when everyone who wants one can get it for $10 less.
Steam hardware selling faster than Nintendo hardware.
PSA: don't buy any from eBay. fuck scalpers.
if you don't buy it they won't sell it. if they don't sell it, they won't buy more.
Should report them on eBay too. Force eBay to stop allowing this behavior!
Please Valve, get the fuck off X.
And at the very least, they shouldn't be paying the fascists running it $2,000 a year to be there.
There's a decent chance an account as big as Valve gets the "premium business" bullshit for free. Not sure if there's a way to tell but it's definitely possible.
Only a rumor, but I’ve heard Gabe Newell is friendly and social with Elon Musk, as a fellow billionaire.
I think it was confirmed that they’re friends or at least used to be in like 2019. Not sure how it is now with how far off the deep end musk went.
Kinda reminds me of a poster I saw today advertising a communist group and an anti-billionaire rally. Had a QR code to follow them on Instagram and X. 🙄
Reminds me of a local pro-privacy group I came across a while back, whose only public online presence was a Facebook group.
Like I get it from a "reach" standpoint, and I think it's fine if you're following a POSSE system, but I feel a lot of people don't do that.
They could just open up a permanent preorder system for all of their hardware and avoid the bullshit to begin with.
Yeah, I mean, at this point valve has proved to be trustworthy. I wouldn't mind placing a pre-order or backorder with them.
Plus hardware preorders actually still make sense because it can't just be digitally copied and a key generated without anyone even needing to press a button. Which was also the case for games at one point.
How the did it with the steam deck was nice. It wasn't a pre-order in the usual sense, since you didn't pay anywhere close to full price. Just a refundable $5 that would go towards the cost of purchase when you bought it.
I don't mind that for hardware, since it cuts out scalpers and doesn't obligate you to purchase something before you know the quality.
As someone who waited 6 months for their Framework 13 pre-order batch to ship, let me tell you, there are drawbacks to that system as well!
I already waited a few years for a new Steam Controller, so what's another half a year?
Did they not limit pre-orders to people with existing steam accounts and one controller per account because that would have been an excellent idea and I assumed that they would have thought of that.
Anyway I have zero interest in the controller until the VR headset comes out.
They did it with the Deck, but apparently didn't think the controller would garner the same reaction, somehow.
At this point, I'm not really even going to bother. I'll just wait another year or so until people get enough then snag one.
I still haven't bought a PS5 because of this lol. At first it was too expensive and scalpers bought them all, so I thought "no worries, I'll wait a year or two and get one on the cheap when it's older." And then the price kept going up over time so I just never bothered.
My son has bugged me for a PS5 and I almost got one, but then convinced him that steam is more than enough for us. A friend of mine has over 2000 games and he shared it with me. Thankfully, my son was convinced 😂
Don't feed the scalpers people
It wouldn’t have cost them anything to say “we’re opening up orders to users who have had a Steam account for at least 2 years, limit 2 per account. After 30 days we’ll open it up to everyone. “
That alone would have stopped so much scalping, and garnered goodwill with the players.
You can report scalpers and get their listings taken down on ebay.
What I don't understand is why they don't just let everyone place orders regardless of current stock over a certain time window, then once the ordering window is closed, arrange for production to meet demand? Or at least do something like a first-come, first-serve waitlist after the initial stock sells out.
Sure, it would take significantly longer to go from order to delivery, but the customer experience would be so much better without having to deal with the mad scramble to try and get an order in the minute they open up. Letting people stake their claim even if stock hasn't caught up yet would also deter scalpers.
Maybe there's a good reason for this, but I don't know what that could possibly be.
A) You'll have people selling their place in line, which means that those who can afford to take a large quantity of orders in advance can profit from the difference
B) It's not exactly good PR to order something and having to wait a variable window of time for it to finally arive at your door (see almost all Bethesda merch incidents post Fallout NV)
C) Valve doesn't operate like a dropshipper. There is no "white label" steam controller being made in china that they can slap their logo on and sell as soon as people order for it. They have to contract volume in advance, since it's a bespoke product.
If only they limited it to 1 per steam account and made it only available to accounts that are sufficiently old.
Because market conditions are fucking insane right now. If they allow backorder and their production price doubles they would have to either honor the orders and take a huge loss, or refuse to honor the price and take a reputational hit.
$5 to get in queue. Price adjusted as needed when order is available. Done.
This free-for-all system is bullshit and has been extra shitty for everything since 2020.
I’m a bit miffed they didn’t handle the release better. Not sure what restrictions were in place but judging from eBay scalper screenshots it wasn’t much.
It was limited to two per purchase, but I could still add (and maybe buy) more after I bought my 2