PS4’s DualShock 4 Early Design Was Similar to Steam Controller – Naughty Dog Lead Designer

Naughty Dog lead game designer Kurt Margenau shared some interesting thoughts on Twitter regarding the PlayStation 4’s DualShock 4 controller. We already know that the button layout for early DualShock 4 designs was similar to the Xbox 360’s controller. However, Margenau has just revealed that Sony also had something similar to Valve’s Steam Controller without buttons or a D-pad. He also reveals how well that idea went.

FTA: Sony at one point had something very similar to the steam controller (no buttons or dpad) and “The vote on that was probably 100-0”

— Kurt Margenau (@kurtmargenau) October 26, 2013

Valve has different ideas for the haptic feedback that the Steam Controller will provide. But it would have been intriguing to see how Sony implemented the same into the DualShock 4. Considering how gimmicks failed the DualShock 3, first with boomerang design and then the SixAxis that made the final design, we’re glad they’ve kept it relatively simply.

Margenau is also a big fan of the DualShock 4 and says that it makes the DualShock 3 “feel like a cheap toy”. And Margenau loved the DualShock 3 controller.

I’ve had a Dual Shock 4 at my desk for a couple months, and it really does make DS3 feel like a cheap toy. And I loved DS3.

— Kurt Margenau (@kurtmargenau) October 25, 2013

The PlayStation 4 will be launching on November 15th in North America and November 29th in Europe.