Following last week’s report Valve is working on a new iteration of its brilliant (if divisive) Steam Controller, a fresh leak has offered what might well be a first look at its refreshed design – and it’s probably not a complete surprise to see it taking plenty of cues from Steam Deck.
Valve’s original Steam Controller was initially unveiled in 2013, accompanying its chatter of third-party Steam machines. But while that particular initiative eventually floundered, the controller portion lived on, eventually releasing in November 2015. Unfortunately, four years later, it was time to say farewell, amid patent infringement claims relating to its paddle-like rear buttons.
Valve initially lost that case and was ordered to pay $4m USD in damages, but the company successfully appealed the verdict in August 2021, paving the way for a Steam Controller 2. All of which brings us to last week, when knowledgeable Valve source Brad Lynch claimed that not only was a new Steam Controller in the works, it was “being tooled for a mass production goal in their factories right now”.
Lynch also reported the new device’s “biggest change will be the shape/size of the trackpads”, with Valve edging toward a more traditional “gamepad-y form”. And, again thanks to Lynch, we’ve now got a much better idea of what the new Steam Controller might look like, thanks to a low-quality image squirrelled in Valve’s SteamVR drivers.
Notably, it appears Valve is taking many of its design cues from Steam Deck this time around – which seems entirely appropriate given how much the handheld gaming PC owed to the original Steam Controller. Assuming the newly discovered render is accurate, Valve’s second iteration could, like the Steam Deck, feature a more traditional twin analog stick set-up alongside twin track pads (one pad below each stick), all packed into a seemingly much more ergonomic design.
The original Steam Deck’s single analog stick set-up wasn’t universally loved, but it’s been a staple of my couch/PC set-up ever since launch thanks to those track pads. This newly uncovered Steam Controller design, then, is definitely encouraging, promising the best of both worlds.
Officially, of course, Valve’s Steam Controller 2 remains nothing mroe than a rumour at present, but an exciting one nonetheless (although I’ll readily admit I probably love the original controller more than most). And it’s not the only new hardware rumoured to be in the works at Valve: the company is also said to be working on a new standalone hybrid VR headset known as “Deckard”, which’ll apparently feature new wand-like controllers, codenamed Roy.
