I’m a big Steam Controller trackpad user, and I already nearly never use my Deck trackpads because they’re too low down. This new one just looks like a normal controller with extra bulk, and nonsense in the area no controller except the N64 used because it’s not where most people grow fingers. I guess it’ll at least have paddles, but they’re hardly a unique feature these days. I really just wanted the existing one again, but with more paddles, an option for an integrated battery, USB-C instead of micro B, and an official supply of replacement thumbsticks instead of having to bodge in 8bitdo ones that aren’t quite the same shape.
I can understand where you’re coming from, but this is realistically a better option for Valve and most consumers right now.
When Valve made the original Steam Controller they were trying to kickstart the Steam Box, which at the time played PC games that were not optimized for controller input on a TV. They needed to have a very outside the box contoller to accomplish this, and so they gave the Steam Controller a try. The touchpad inputs with enough custom mapping really were revolutionary, but only for a small crowd that wanted to play Sim City on their TV.
Nowadays, every game has standard controller input. Trying to get people who are used to the joysticks to switch to virtual trackpads is a non starter, even if it could be technically superior in some circumstances. The compromise is what we have now, a full controller layout with touchpads as extras, to maintain that backward compatibility with old PC games. I think it’s the right decision, and this is personally the controller I’ve been waiting for.
I’d love to see Steam re-make the old Steam Controller to give old fans a replacement, and I hope they do someday, but they have to pick their battles as they certainly wouldn’t sell in any volume. In a previous quest for a perfect controller I came across an open source 3D printed one called the Alpakka. Maybe DIY or a startup indie company will pick up the torch where Valve left off to give a true replacement? I hope so because the right controller for the right job is a wonderful thing.
That’s reasonable, but the market’s already flooded with generic controllers at various price points and degrees of quality. If the idea’s to make money, the new design won’t do brilliantly as things like the awkwardly-placed trackpads will increase manufacturing costs without being a killer feature that makes most people prefer to spend more on this particular controller. If the idea’s to make something viable that hadn’t been before (which is what Valve normally seem to go for), then this isn’t serving the discontinued Steam Controller’s niche as effectively as the original did, and isn’t serving any new niche, either.
By the way, the thing they were trying at the same time as the original Steam Controller was the Steam Machine, not the Steam Box. It also kind of did work, as the couch PC gaming part mostly happened, but it took a decade of improvements to Proton and abandoning third-party hardware manufacturers before Linux-based console-like PCs became viable in the form of the Steam Deck. Ten years ago, nearly no games ran under Linux, and all the Steam Machine manufacturers were just changing the logo on one of their existing prebuilts and charging an extra $100 not to install Windows on it, so you were better off with any other desktop.
I’m a big Steam Controller trackpad user, and I already nearly never use my Deck trackpads because they’re too low down. This new one just looks like a normal controller with extra bulk, and nonsense in the area no controller except the N64 used because it’s not where most people grow fingers. I guess it’ll at least have paddles, but they’re hardly a unique feature these days. I really just wanted the existing one again, but with more paddles, an option for an integrated battery, USB-C instead of micro B, and an official supply of replacement thumbsticks instead of having to bodge in 8bitdo ones that aren’t quite the same shape.
I can understand where you’re coming from, but this is realistically a better option for Valve and most consumers right now.
When Valve made the original Steam Controller they were trying to kickstart the Steam Box, which at the time played PC games that were not optimized for controller input on a TV. They needed to have a very outside the box contoller to accomplish this, and so they gave the Steam Controller a try. The touchpad inputs with enough custom mapping really were revolutionary, but only for a small crowd that wanted to play Sim City on their TV.
Nowadays, every game has standard controller input. Trying to get people who are used to the joysticks to switch to virtual trackpads is a non starter, even if it could be technically superior in some circumstances. The compromise is what we have now, a full controller layout with touchpads as extras, to maintain that backward compatibility with old PC games. I think it’s the right decision, and this is personally the controller I’ve been waiting for.
I’d love to see Steam re-make the old Steam Controller to give old fans a replacement, and I hope they do someday, but they have to pick their battles as they certainly wouldn’t sell in any volume. In a previous quest for a perfect controller I came across an open source 3D printed one called the Alpakka. Maybe DIY or a startup indie company will pick up the torch where Valve left off to give a true replacement? I hope so because the right controller for the right job is a wonderful thing.
That’s reasonable, but the market’s already flooded with generic controllers at various price points and degrees of quality. If the idea’s to make money, the new design won’t do brilliantly as things like the awkwardly-placed trackpads will increase manufacturing costs without being a killer feature that makes most people prefer to spend more on this particular controller. If the idea’s to make something viable that hadn’t been before (which is what Valve normally seem to go for), then this isn’t serving the discontinued Steam Controller’s niche as effectively as the original did, and isn’t serving any new niche, either.
By the way, the thing they were trying at the same time as the original Steam Controller was the Steam Machine, not the Steam Box. It also kind of did work, as the couch PC gaming part mostly happened, but it took a decade of improvements to Proton and abandoning third-party hardware manufacturers before Linux-based console-like PCs became viable in the form of the Steam Deck. Ten years ago, nearly no games ran under Linux, and all the Steam Machine manufacturers were just changing the logo on one of their existing prebuilts and charging an extra $100 not to install Windows on it, so you were better off with any other desktop.
Oddly, I almost exclusively use the trackpads on my deck. I tend to play mainly mouse-driven games.