Despite only being out for a couple of days, the Steam Controller seems to have been a much larger success than Valve had anticipated. The company has taken to social media to announce that it has run out of stock of its new controller, and that it is working to try and restock as soon as it possibly can. A timeline is expected to be announced soon.
“Steam Controller ran out faster than we anticipated, and we hate that not everyone who wanted one was able to get it,” announced the company. “We’re working on getting more in stock and will have an update on expected timeline soon.”
The Steam Controller was released earlier this week, with the only way of buying one being through Steam. The controller has been priced at $99, and even before it ran out of stock, it wasn’t available in all regions across the world yet.
Despite the high price tag when compared to other controllers, the Steam Controller has seen plenty of praise from just about every reviewer, thanks in large part to the quality of its buttons and sticks, extra hardware features like trackpads, additional buttons, and gyro support, as well as the general customizability afforded to it through Steam Input.
Along with a USB-C port, the Steam Controller also comes packaged with a “Puck” that not only acts as its wireless dongle, but also as a charger by magnetically sticking to the back of the controller. Valve has called this Puck one of the defining features of the Steam Controller. Along with this, it is equipped with magnetic thumbsticks that use TMR technology to enhance accuracy and prevent wear, and high-definition rumble motors capable of complex waveforms for vibration patterns.
The twin trackpads and Quick Access Menu button should be familiar to anyone who has used a Steam Deck. While the former makes for a great replacement to analogue sticks for games that don’t support it, the latter allows users easy access to notifications, friends lists, and Steam Chat, among other things. When it comes to compatibility, Valve has said that any piece of hardware running Steam works with it right out of the box, regardless of whether the operating system is Windows, MacOS, or Linux. Tablets and smartphones are also supported.
Despite its name, the latest Steam Controller is actually the second piece of Valve-produced hardware bearing the name. The original was launched in 2015 alongside the company’s first attempts at Linux-based Steam Machines, and rather than going with the traditional twin-stick controller layout, features a pair of circular trackpads—one also acting as its D-pad, while the other is a replacement for the right analogue stick. The design saw a mixed response, and the controller was ultimately discontinued in 2019.
The newer Steam Controller was one of three hardware announcements made by Valve late last year. It was unveiled alongside the Steam Machine—a Linux-based pre-built gaming PC—and a new VR headset dubbed the Steam Frame, which Valve has confirmed runs on Android, and can wirelessly connect to PCs over the 6 GHz band.
