What a curious way of saying this product is in very high demand, it’s almost like the publication wants to project failure and perhaps even ill-will onto the vendor. Veeeeery interesting. Anyone seen Mr. Sweeney lately by the way?
They just take old Switch articles and swap out the names.
“So behind”
They’re dealing with exorbitant demand during a time when tech and hardware prices are skyrocketing. They’re doing quite well given the circumstances, imo.
This worries me that this is foreshadowing the situation with the Steam Machine
I have no doubt it is with the way the prices have been with memory and gas for a while now at this point. Not necessarily Valve’s fault, but it’s gonna suck ass regardless.
Gonna keep buying Xbox controllers I suppose then :\ Would love to throw money at Valve for theirs, but they aren’t making it easy and I am not going to join a waitlist for a piece of plastic lol. Hopefully in the future they’ll have some for sale
Plenty of 3rd party options with better tech and lower price are available than Xbox controllers.
Got any examples? I’ve been shopping around but can’t find anything I’m terribly happy with
8bitdo comes to mind
Flydigi Vader 5 is absolutely excellent. There are cheaper options with less features from Flydigi, too. I can highly recommend.
In other comments I’ve already pointed to 8bitdo https://www.8bitdo.com/
Their Ultimate 2 series of controllers have a stupid naming scheme so you have to be careful if you go with one of those. They have a Nintendo compatible variant called the Ultimate 2 Bluetooth controller but all the other ones also come with a USB dongle and a physical switch on the back to enable bluetooth mode (they refer it to Android compatibility then). The low end one is the Ultimate 2c and even that comes with hall effect sensors. The Nintendo compatible one also works with PCs but in Bluetooth mode its ID is Pro Controller and the A/B X/Y buttons are swapped Nintendo style (in Steam it’s a option to reverse that). I have the Nintendo one because it’s better than a Nintendo Pro Controller and a couple of my friends bought the 2c when it was on a ludicrous sale on AliExpress for 10 Euro.
The latest version is the Ultimate 3E which is officially licensed for Xbox. 130 Euro is a bit steep for me. The 8Bitdo Ultimate 2 Wireless Controller costs half the price and the 2c is half of that for a relatively minor loss in features (no RGB LEDs, hall effect instead of TMR sticks, no charging cradle).
A friend of mine has KingKong 2 Pro Controller by Gulikit which is not a couple of years old. He’s only a casual gamer but so far he’s happy with it. I cannot speak for the quality of the latest Gulikit controller.
8bitdo Ultimate 2, do really watch the product name though, because a lot of their similar named controllers are completely different (8bitdo Ultimate 2C for example)
My wife was supposed to get hers for Mother’s Day. Now she’s hoping Christmas? But even that’s iffy at this point.
“Your present is still being manufactured, please hold”
“Oh honey, I’ll cherish this “Estimated Time of Shipping : Next May” email close to my heart whenever I need to feel appreciated for being a mother.”
I hope she eventually enjoys it. I just wanted to make a joke of a shitty situation you ended up in.
I’m very happy I managed to snag one. For anyone waiting: it’ll be worth it.
Sad, mine is in 2027 and I got in on day 2 when they opened pre-orders as I missed initial announcement.
I reserved mine 15 minutes after the reservations opened and I’m not getting it till September
I reserved maybe an hour after they opened up and I got mine the other day.
There’s 3 possible categories, and you got the earliest. The other two are “December” and “2027”.
Oh they’re showing estimates now? Let’s check.
:(
Made my reservation just a bit after 1am on the 9th… :'(
Just “2027” for me. I was no slouch on reserving, either.
Edit: wait I’m an idiot, this says reserve now?! I definitely reserved!
Edit 2:
I did reserve, I got the chance to buy it 6 days ago, it expired 3 days ago, I never saw it. That sucks. Didn’t even get a push notification on the steam app. Just an email I missed.
Man this sucks. Not angry with Valve, it seems they far, FAR underestimated demand, but with the entire industry being on fire I also sort of understand. I’m a computer guy and when people want to buy hardware from me I spiral in to a dark place because it’s practically impossible and my prices are so huge they’d be insane to even speak to me again.
If it helps. That is the “earliest estimate”
Pretty sure, every controller they have is going to go out with the Frame or the Machine from now til then. Need to justify the (almost guaranteed) $1000+ MSRP.
I put my order in about 30 minutes after the reservation queue went live and I also show a September estimated date. I’m interested, when did you get your reservation in?
I don’t remember for sure, I think it was early afternoon that day?
Edit: Got the confirmation email from my reservation 1:10pm May 8th
Did everyone get a confirmation email?
I didn’t get any confirmation
Might want to check the status on the reservation page then
But yes you should’ve gotten an email
Could also maybe ask support to resend you the email if possible
That’s a good idea. I can do that. Thanks
i got the same estimate and i placed my reservation like an hour after they opened :c
Think of it like this,this estimates everyone buying it. It can only get better from this. I got dec. 26
yay got my notification today. Reserved on the 8th. Just leaving this here as some hope to the people that haven’t received anythng yet
It very much depends on where in the world you are. I reserved mine at 1am on the 9th, not long after they opened the reservations (because of the time difference, I’m in Sweden), and it says my estimate is in december this year… :(
i am in germany so i don’t think it should be much different for you. I don’t remember the exact time but the system said it was still on the 8th.
I have a Steam Deck and am not sure what the hype is about with the Steam controller. On my SD, the track pads don’t really work that well (mainly use them in desktop mode as a mouse), and $50 Xbox controllers otherwise seem equivalent, except at half the price with support for Linux distros other than SteamOS. Am I overlooking something critical?
If you’ve never created a custom menu for a game on the steam deck, I can understand not getting the hype. I have customized the controls for a few games so much that I found myself reaching for my deck even when I had my TV or computer available. For me having the same control layout between deck and controller is huge.
Trackpads are crucial if you want to play strategy games or anything mouse based. They also offer a lot better aiming control in fps games (although I think using gyro for aiming is even better than that). They also can be used for fancy touch menus and things like that.
The back buttons are also extremely nice.
So use KB+M? Trackpad is a terrible replacement for a mouse/trackball. A lot better aiming in fps vs what? Xbox controller? KB+M?
So use KB+M?
You heard the him, boys, cancel your orders, you are doing wrong.
For FPS games, I’d rank it Mouse>Finger Trackball>Gyro Aim>Thumb Trackball/Trackpads>>Thumbstick
So yeah, if mouse+kb is available, use that. But that’s not a good option on my living room couch.
Ever tried one of these? Putting thumb trackball together with trackpads is a bit much lol! Lap Setup
I have actually, I tried using a thumb ball for awhile before swapping to a 52mm fingerball.
Felt like the ball was too small and my thumb lacked the precision to make it a good alternative to a regular mouse. Your mouse looks to have a larger thumb ball than the one I was using, which would help but wouldn’t be enough (I think). To be honest, I prefer the deck trackpads to that thumb ball mouse I was using.
I’m biased, as I’ve used thumb trackballs since the 90s (did also use regular mice and trackpads). There isn’t a lot of choice in trackballs nowadays when it comes to the big names, but there are few little known brands that still provide solid choices for gaming.
Even newbies to both, within hours thumb trackball should be superior to a trackpad imo though.
My issue was that by default it wasn’t sensitive enough, requiring a much longer time and lots of lifted thumb time to move the cursor across the screen, especially across multiple monitors. But when I turned the sensitive up a lot, I started having trouble having the precision needed to click small buttons. A nicer trackball might have enough weight and smooth enough action to “fling” it, which I could see working, but the one I had didn’t work for that.
The deck trackpads have a larger contact surface that the thumb ball I used, and have pretty predictable “fling” ability which helps them move large distances easily while still being reasonably precise.
The fingerball I used was much larger, and I found it easier to have a suitably high sensitivity while still being accurate enough. Although over several months of use I never quite got to the same ease of use as my preferred mouse setup, and the actual shape of the fingerball body was too flat which was ironically unergonomic for extended use.
In the end I went back to using a mouse. I did realize that I kinda use my mouse like a big trackball though, I keep the base of my palm in a fixed location on the desk, and do the majority of moving the mouse by moving it around with my fingers. The sensitivity is pretty high, but using it this way gives me pretty precise control without any ergonomic issues.
Combination of gyro and trackpads is an option for gyro, though it takes some getting used to. Essentially I think use the trackpad for the main looking around and then the gyro is the last step and allows for mouse level precision.
https://www.ign.com/articles/steam-deck-trackpad-gyro-mouse-accuracy-shooters-fps-valve
That works, but my preferred setup for controller shooters is gyro+flickstick. I don’t think the trackpad would be as good for flickstick.
Interesting, I’ll have to look into this one
It’s the Gaben effect. It’s like how everyone overlooks that steam is a game store sucking profits out of the industry like all the other big ones or that Gaben owns a billion dollars worth of boats.
It’s just an over priced controller. Steam should start selling clothes so people can go around looking like those obnoxious Ferrari guys. I’d love to see valves marketing budget, it must be massive.
Steam deck before the price hike was definitely a good buy, this though is just fluff.
Don’t like it, then don’t buy it. I find it hilarious that people call it overpriced, but can’t show me a cheaper controller with the same features.
but can’t show me a cheaper controller with the same features.
can they show you any controller with the same features?
Well, on the one hand… having more demand than you can actually fulfill is the kind of problem most busineses would like to have…
Assuming they’re actually moving a lot of units.
I mean… even if they’re not moving a lot of units, its still broadly a good problem to have -> considerably more people than you thought, want to buy the thing you sell.
So at bare minimum you’ve over delivered in terms of product design.
The extremely obvious capitalist response to that would be to raise prices on that thing. Win win, right? The extra profits go toward more capex to make more future production.
… But they haven’t done that.
They haven’t done that because they care about their image more than their profit margins on this particular product.
And/or because in the current environment… basically, the cost/reward on spending more capex isn’t worth the reputation hit.
The capex spending to meaningfully ramp up production would be so expensive, that it’d end up being a net loss, in terms of reputation damage.
… At least this is my semi-informed guess.
They are not. Sold out in 30 minutes. Lol.
You can sell out a loot of units in 30 minutes…
Bold of you to assume that you can’t sell out hundreds of thousands, if not millions of units in 30 minutes.
This man has never heard of bots
And bots don’t have to pay for goods or what are you trying to say?
Well the bots got the lion’s share, for sure. They’ll get the machines and frames too.
Or they are taking a loss on every deck, controller, sold and we don’t even have a price on the desktop.
Valve is taking a red bloody bath and slowing the bleeding.
Do you have any evidence to suggest that valve released a brand new controller and decided, what out of the goodness of their hearts, to sell it for a loss?
Businesses sell things for a loss all the time, it’s never out of the goodness of their hearts. It’s a strategy to gain market share or to sell other products for a higher margin. Every supermarket you’ve ever been to has products for sale at a loss. Doesn’t make it a good deal for the customer either, just an accounting reality.
So… no evidence?
Yeah but this isn’t really the same as the Costco hot dog. It’s a product that’s more expensive than the alternatives (though they don’t have track pads) and steam is the defacto pc gaming software. Other massive companies can barely compete and have to do stuff like epic where they give games out for free (exactly the kind of tactic you’re talking about). My sarcastic comment about the kindness of their heart is because I personally can’t see another reason to do that. That’s why I asked for any evidence - an interview, a tweet from someone who would know, an article, anything other than a hunch.
sarcastic comment about the kindness of their heart is because I personally can’t see another reason to do that
Exactly you can’t personally see it so i explained it to you lol
Yes but valve already has a monopoly on the PC gaming market. Usually companies sell things at a loss to attract you to them so you buy other things while you get the good deal.
In valve’s case, we’re already in the store buying their games. There’s no reason for them to sell it at a loss, because it won’t attract people to steam.
Theres nobody out there saying “wow I would be a PC gamer playing on steam if I had a steam specific controller.”
Maybe that’s the case for the steam machines and steam frame coming up, but I kinda doubt it.
As someone who works in retail, even our best sales at our store will still make us around a 10% profit. Our normal GP for items sits around 30% to 40%, so while it is less than that we almost never actually sell things for a real loss.
They could’ve sold it at twice the price I’d still would’ve bought one tho?
Why should they take a loss on the controller? There is no RAM or other parts affected by the price hikes in it. Also they announced the price only shortly before launch. Why should they have chosen a price that does not cover the costs? This does not make any sense.
I’m actually baffled who buys all of these controllers? If you’re windows user you have a plethora of options in all price brackets. I wanted to buy steam controller because of Linux compatibility (Reverse engineered Xbox controller driver likes to shit itself from time to time)
Why everyone else just suddenly needs This new controller is just beyond me
The old steam controller was loved by many and has always been praised by its very enthusiastic user base. With Valve proving their worth as a hardware vendor to the masses via the steam deck, I’m not surprised the controller is as popular as it is. I hope you manage to get one!
If you’re windows user you have a plethora of options in all price brackets. I wanted to buy steam controller because of Linux compatibility (Reverse engineered Xbox controller driver likes to shit itself from time to time)
8bitdo and similar controllers work absolutely fine under Linux. No idea where your Linux compatibility thing comes from.
8bitdo
First time I hear about this company. I have no idea if they’re trust worth, and If they make a solid product that won’t break two months after warranty expires.
What? They’re probably the biggest 3rd party game controller vendor. They moved to hall effect before even the 1st party companies had those in their elite controllers.
Also, regular Xbox also work fine under Linux. The only thing that needs the reverse engineered community driver is that wireless dongle because it can pair multiple controllers. USB and Bluetooth are absolutely fine for pretty much every controller under Linux. The dongle 8bitdo uses is for a single controller, so it acts like a regular controller that was connected with a USB cable.
Maybe they’re known in US, but I never seen them in EU.
USB and Bluetooth are absolutely fine for pretty much every controller under Linux.
USB yes, Bluetooth no - BT has by design considerable input lag, and in case Xbox controller it was even worse.
Reverse engineered xone driver for dongle fails every few kernel updates. I know, I used it for like two years. After few months of not using the game pad you find that it doesn’t work, you need to install new version of the driver IF it’s available, if not you have to downgrade kernel. Fuck this experience. I want things to work out of the box.
Maybe they’re known in US, but I never seen them in EU.
Then you didn’t look properly: https://geizhals.de/8bitdo-ultimate-2c-wireless-controller-pc-android-v177372.html Gulikit is another very famous 3rd party controller brand. I think both source their sensors from the same manufacturer. They often have quite similar controllers.
Reverse engineered xone driver for dongle fails every few kernel updates.
So the dongle is the problem, not the controller. Use a USB cable for best latency. Works fine. Literally every other controller doesn’t have this problem, so specifically needing a Steam Controller because of Linux compatibility is nonsensical.
So if you want one with a dongle that works absolutely fine under Linux and costs only 29 Euro:
I want something that works instead of PS5 Bluetooth that cuts off when I put it under my desk. It’s a first class controller designed for pc that just works. It also has other cool things like never dying.
I found that disabling my motherboard’s Bluetooth and using a dongle improved that situation dramatically. I suspect all the EMI plus a steel desktop case was a big contributor.
Oh also the ps5 controller speaker set as default was a horrendous and annoying experience lol
I did that and still wasnt great, but it was better at least.
I’ve experimented with Xbox controller on Bluetooth, and it wasn’t a good experience. I did some research and it looks like it’s because Microslop decided to ignore the bloetooh specs - controller doesn’t signal required bandwidth, so BT driver defaults to the lowest one. If you force driver to faster transmission rate, it will work better, but all other devices that support lowest speed only won’t work
Mine heats to crazy temps and I had to glue a copper radiator on to the microslop bluetooth thingy
It got two track pad, i can’t find the recommended one on this price range with two track pad.
Edit: i can’t buy it even if i wanted to.
It’s a hyped-up piece of videogame hardware. I’m gonna guess half the sales were to scalpers planning to immediately resell at twice the price.
It’s hyped because of the touchpads. And hall effect sticks
That’s why I got it. Sold the dual shock, and Hoping to sell my Xbox controller too
Yeah it does seem nice, and I didn’t say it’s OVERhyped. Just saying scalpers are always a big part of stuff like this.
Yeah. They probably are a factor too
I’m lucky that my brother managed to get a steam controller, but realised he didn’t really need it, so instead of waiting until 2027, I got one of the first batches
There’s gonna be a lot of people selling their Xbox and other controllers though soon
Almost every third party controller these days uses Hall effect or TMR.
It’s hyped because it’s sTeAm and scalpers.
I sweat they do this limited inventory on purpose for the news coverage
There’s no other controllers with touchpad other than dualsense I could find. And dual sense didn’t work for me very well on steam
That’s why people want it. I looked extensibly… I’m used to gaming on keyboard or mouse so I figured I’m better on touchpad than sticks
And why would they need the press coverage into 2027? Id expect they’d prefer sales, where the money could be used for marketing.They already have products like steam frame which will generate media attention later this year
Welcome to my world, just substitute 99% of modern tech and that’s me!
Well, at least it’s an update. I was just about to post in here if anyone had received a purchase link from their reservation yet. I made mine on May 10th; maybe that means I’ll be in the “this year” batch.
I made the reservation right as they opened on May 8th. I got my invite link on June 11th, and it arrived at my door on Monday, June 15th.
Or maybe you’ll get the link tomorrow and it will ship alarmingly fast like mine! ¯\(ツ)/¯
Yup, I got mine on day one (spam that F5 ppl) and it was here on the second day, surprised me, pleasantly, they said a week.
I’m in the US. Reservations opened at 12pm May 8th, I queued up by 12:01, got my link to purchase last Thursday with the controller arriving a few days ago. Based on that and considering there were likely a lot of reservations placed over those two days, my gut says that you might be waiting a while, unfortunately.
I made my reservation in the first minutes when it was possible and clicked the buying link as soon as I got one sent. The controller was delivered 10 days ago. I am located in Germany.
You can now see the estimated delivery date on the Steam Controller page!
“December, 2026.” Well Merry Christmas to me, I guess! :p
I made my reservation request on May 8th at 11am, and I got my purchase invitation on June 15th at 9pm. Hope that helps.
I didn’t think to reserve it before the 12th. So mine says 2027. I just thought they’d meet demand.
I made my reservation on May 9th and it shows December.
same here.
I put in my reservation on May 14th and it’s showing availability in 2027 for me. It’s kind of killing my interest to be honest. That’s a long wait.
