The first reviews of the Steam Controller have been published, with price and release date also announced. However, many fans feel validated: The controller is overall too expensive for its features. This is emphasized by many reviews: Often, two cheaper controllers would serve you better.
How much does the controller cost and when is it being released? The Steam Controller officially launches on May 4, 2026, via Steam and will cost $99 / 99 Euro. The price was leaked shortly before through a review and can now be confirmed.
In the meantime, the first reviews of the Steam Controller have appeared. These are generally positive, but criticize the high purchase price. Players feel validated in their concerns, although many still want to buy it.
Fans feel validated by reviews of the Steam Controller
What do the reviews say? Most reviews that have now surfaced online about the Steam Controller agree on several points:
- You get a well-crafted controller with special touchpads.
- The controller is especially worth it if you primarily play games on Steam.
- The battery life is surprisingly long at 35 hours.
- At the time of testing, there were still some technical issues that Valve urgently needed to address. Some testers, such as the magazine Polygon, miss a headphone jack.
However, according to testers, the model is overall too expensive. According to Ars Technica, it is a solid controller, but for the same money, you could easily buy two other controllers. For the majority of players, this is the better choice:
For many players, these features are not sufficient to justify the price of $99. It is hard to justify such an expense when considering that an Xbox controller from one’s own production or a high-quality Bluetooth device from a third party can easily be had for half the price or less.
The tester from TheVerge explains that the unique touchpads simply do not feel ergonomic. After a short time, their fingers had cramped:
The trackpads were mostly a disappointment. They are not in a comfortable position for extensive use as a mouse; during the few occasions when I tried, my cramped thumbs started to hurt.
What do the fans say? They feel confirmed in their fears. There was already criticism of the leaked price, and many found the price of around $100 for the model too expensive. In particular, Canadians are complaining because the exchange rate between the US dollar and Canadian dollar (CAD) is so bad and they have to pay 150 CAD for the controller.
Some explain that there are already significantly better controllers on the market, and therefore there is no need to specifically choose the Steam Controller. Some users, for example, mention the 8bitdo Ultimate 2, which you can already buy for 50 to 60 Euros (via Reddit.com):
What is really dumb is when we have companies like 8bitdo making good and affordable controllers. The only thing this thing can do better than the 8bitdo Ultimate 2 is the touchpads, and the controller costs $60 and is on sale for $40.
One important limitation that should not be forgotten is that the Steam Controller does not support standard HID, XUSB, or GIP protocols and is not compatible with standard input APIs under Windows. This means that so far the controller only works with Steam and not with third-party platforms or outside of Steam. This has also been criticized by some testers, who are hoping for an update in the long term (such as Polygon and TheVerge).
Valve has introduced the Steam Machine as new hardware. But what exactly can we expect? A console, a gaming PC, or something completely different? And can I even play all my games? MeinMMO has gathered the most important questions for you and tried to answer them: Steam Machine: The most important questions and answers
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