What are people buying this for? Obviously there are a bunch of use cases but I’m curious to hear people’s individual needs. I doubt it’s replacing the keyboard & mouse setup.
I’m disabled. I basically can’t leave my bed. A normal mouse and keyboard are awkward to use. This controller would be perfect for me.
I know this from using my Steam Deck all the time. But it’s getting a bit heavy. With the Steam Controller I could have my display and controller independent of each other.
But I will miss the Steam Deck’s easy zoom feature (holding it closer to my face) that aided my failing eyes. But both Steam and KDE have software solutions for that that I can hopefully map to the controller pretty comfortably.
I don’t know how you would feel about them, but they have little “gaming pillows” where you attach the deck to it and it holds up the deck while resting on your belly so that your hands don’t have to do all the work.
I hate the trackpads on the original Steam controller, but love them on the Steam Deck. I want to be able to have a dedicated controller with them for when I hook up my Steam Deck to my TV, or for a handful of games that are better designed for controllers.
I was fortunately able to buy mine a minute before you were supposed to be able to order them. 🤷
Well, we had a PS4 controller but it suddenly developed stick drift so bad it’s unusable now.
The Steam Controller has magnetic sticks that will never do that. So it’ll last.
Also it has a symmetical-stick layout (which we like) and a gyro (need that for gyro aim; PS4 controller also had that) and is just generally solid. We don’t need the trackpads or back buttons as much, but they certainly don’t hurt.
i really like trackpads and custom bindings for older games on Deck and I wanna have the same on my TV, so I can sit next to my gf and not alone by my desk
Beyond the fact that I generally like Valve hardware and could use another spare controller, I mainly want it to play Guild Wars 2 on my TV. As an MMO, it obviously has a lot of inputs that make using a traditional controller for it difficult. I already created a custom layout for the Steam Deck which works pretty well for me, but I’d really rather use my far more powerful desktop PC and TV when I’m at home, which the Steam Controller should allow me to do.
I use my gaming desktop on my TV. Especially for games where you’re only occasionally doing inventory management for instance, it can be nice to use touchpads for the 1:1 input every so often. Also a lot of RTS games that would otherwise be unplayable or at least difficult from the couch are suddenly accessible.
Add in Valve’s recent reputation for repairability and open communication and it’s a hard combination to beat.
A friend gifted me some Steam credit for my birthday last year and I figured I might as well buy the controller with it.
I don’t need it as a dyed in the wool keyboard and mouse gamer, but there are some games where that setup is a little clunky. Jedi Fallen Order and Survivor are an example, where I can’t find a reasonable binding for the force powers controls.
The second reason is that I use my PC as my “TV” too, so I think it’d be nice to be able to use the touchpads on the controller instead of reaching for the mouse when I’m on the couch.
What are people buying this for? Obviously there are a bunch of use cases but I’m curious to hear people’s individual needs. I doubt it’s replacing the keyboard & mouse setup.
I’m disabled. I basically can’t leave my bed. A normal mouse and keyboard are awkward to use. This controller would be perfect for me.
I know this from using my Steam Deck all the time. But it’s getting a bit heavy. With the Steam Controller I could have my display and controller independent of each other.
But I will miss the Steam Deck’s easy zoom feature (holding it closer to my face) that aided my failing eyes. But both Steam and KDE have software solutions for that that I can hopefully map to the controller pretty comfortably.
I don’t know how you would feel about them, but they have little “gaming pillows” where you attach the deck to it and it holds up the deck while resting on your belly so that your hands don’t have to do all the work.
It might be an option for you or others.
Fair enough. I hope it works well for you!
I hate the trackpads on the original Steam controller, but love them on the Steam Deck. I want to be able to have a dedicated controller with them for when I hook up my Steam Deck to my TV, or for a handful of games that are better designed for controllers.
I was fortunately able to buy mine a minute before you were supposed to be able to order them. 🤷
Well, we had a PS4 controller but it suddenly developed stick drift so bad it’s unusable now.
The Steam Controller has magnetic sticks that will never do that. So it’ll last.
Also it has a symmetical-stick layout (which we like) and a gyro (need that for gyro aim; PS4 controller also had that) and is just generally solid. We don’t need the trackpads or back buttons as much, but they certainly don’t hurt.
– Frost
I mean, do you not understand why people would buy controllers at all? It’s an extremely nice one.
i really like trackpads and custom bindings for older games on Deck and I wanna have the same on my TV, so I can sit next to my gf and not alone by my desk
Beyond the fact that I generally like Valve hardware and could use another spare controller, I mainly want it to play Guild Wars 2 on my TV. As an MMO, it obviously has a lot of inputs that make using a traditional controller for it difficult. I already created a custom layout for the Steam Deck which works pretty well for me, but I’d really rather use my far more powerful desktop PC and TV when I’m at home, which the Steam Controller should allow me to do.
I use my gaming desktop on my TV. Especially for games where you’re only occasionally doing inventory management for instance, it can be nice to use touchpads for the 1:1 input every so often. Also a lot of RTS games that would otherwise be unplayable or at least difficult from the couch are suddenly accessible.
Add in Valve’s recent reputation for repairability and open communication and it’s a hard combination to beat.
A friend gifted me some Steam credit for my birthday last year and I figured I might as well buy the controller with it.
I don’t need it as a dyed in the wool keyboard and mouse gamer, but there are some games where that setup is a little clunky. Jedi Fallen Order and Survivor are an example, where I can’t find a reasonable binding for the force powers controls.
The second reason is that I use my PC as my “TV” too, so I think it’d be nice to be able to use the touchpads on the controller instead of reaching for the mouse when I’m on the couch.