Valve Is Relying On PC Gamers To Improve The Steam Controller Over The Coming Months

Early Steam Controllers are beginning to fall into pre-orderers’ hands this week, with early reports suggesting this is one gamepad that’s going to take a while to get used to. Out of the box it looks to be fairly unintuitive, with no instruction manual of the sort to help users wield the device.

It’s early days for the Steam Controller though, which soft launches today but officially arrives in stores on November 10th. In the meantime, Valve is keen on getting gamers to improve the Steam Controller; both in terms of design and ergonomics, and the creation of custom control profiles for the vast catalogue of Steam games. "I don’t think this will be the last Steam Controller design ever,” said Valve’s Robin Walker. “We’re just about to hit the point where customers get their hands on it which, to us in the software world, that’s where stuff starts to get really interesting." Since Valve originally revealed the Steam Controller back in 2013 there’s been some significant changes. The left analogue stick was added, while the prototype touch-pad in the centre has been removed entirely. Valve hasn’t given up hope on reversing these changes, and hopes once more people get used to the Steam Controller and its trackpads it can begin phasing things in. "Active screens on the controller—we think, probably long-term—will be something that'll be interesting," said Valve designer Erik Johnson.

As it stands right now, the vast number of input options and control methods to the Steam Controller means setting up control schemes is a logistical nightmare. Valve is relying on crowd-sourcing custom settings, with the most popular control layouts sifting to the top of the pile. What this means is that some games won’t have Steam Controller support from minute one, and will likely default to a stand Xbox gamepad until custom profiles are made. There’s plenty of mixed views out there about the Steam Controller, so it’s difficult to say whether it’s worth a purchase just yet. Valve openly admitting it will be iterated upon suggests wait and see might be the sensible option for now. 

What do you think of the steam controller? leave comments below please.