Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license

https://www.digitalfoundry.net/news/2026/05/valve-releases-steam-controller-cad-files-under-creative-commons-license

by haunter • 3 months ago

1747 592 3 months ago

digitalfoundry.net

matheusmoreira• 3 months ago

Amazing. This is gonna be useful for my handheld project.

KumaBear• 3 months ago

If only scalpers didn’t scoop up every unit

BadBadJellyBean7• 3 months ago

I really wonder how many scalpers there were. I got one. I am not a scalper. Maybe it was just high demand for limited stock.

wldcordeiro• 3 months ago

These days it's hard to tell and there's always a mix of both with any high demand items so it makes the stock limits even more pronounced. With how Valve has done hardware releases lately though I imagine it's more a stock limitation.

opan3• 3 months ago

I also got one and didn't think scalpers were the problem at the time. I have since seen eBay listings of people trying to sell the controllers (that they don't even have yet) for 3x the price, though, so they maybe did play a role. There was a limit of 2 controllers per Steam account and they sold out within 30 minutes, so not sure if bots were used or what. There wasn't a lot of time to mess around. I've seen a lot of people who wanted one couldn't get one. Personally I added it to my cart about 2 minutes before the official start time and then it took 12 minutes or so of retrying to actually check out.

bluetidepro2• 3 months ago

I don't fully understand this narrative that is going around about scalpers and the controller. So many people online are claiming it was only scalpers who were able to purchase one. I am also not a scalper (as someone else said), and was able to purchase one. We don't know how many they actually had in stock in total but let's say it's around 30K, from what I have searched on eBay and other reselling sites it would only seem like less than 1% of the stock is being sold by resellers/scalpers. I think it was just a high demand product. I know scalpers are a problem in much of the entertainment industry right now, but it's also becoming a scape goat for anything you just weren't able to buy yourself. It's quite annoying and getting old fast.

iknowstuff• 3 months ago

It’s hard to participate in any gaming communities because you quickly realize they’re all kids who have no idea about markets but they all talk like foremost experts on every subject

BadBadJellyBean7• 3 months ago

It's also very important to understand that Valve has 100% control of the marketplace. They don't have to hope that Best Buy or Walmart or whatever secure their system against scalpers. They can enforce account history requirements and rate limiting or what ever they please.

I'd be extremely surprised if they didn't do that.

flumpcakes• 3 months ago

I managed to buy one, I also have no intention to sell it anytime soon. I do wish there were better protections against scalpers though, they are a blight.

Computer0• 3 months ago

I think valve typically has pretty good scalper protection. Was that not the case this time?

BadBadJellyBean7• 3 months ago

I think nobody but valve knows and they are not telling us. We don't know how many units were sold and how the protections were (at least I didn't see anything). Some people seem to assume that scalpers are to blame when a product is sold out really fast (which is understandable when looking at past hardware releases).

Me, I don't think so. I just think people really wanted to get one.

mitkebes3• 3 months ago

I know the steam deck had good scalper limitations. You had to have a steam account in good standing (no vac bans) that had a game purchase from before the deck was available for purchase, as well as a limit of how many one account could purchase.

There was a limit of 2 steam controllers for this sale, but it sounds like that limit was only per transaction, and didn't prevent an account from placing multiple transactions (if the store would load for long enough to allow it). I don't think any of the other limitations were in place.

DauntingPear7• 3 months ago

I got 2. 1 for me and 1 for my brother. I sat with the page loaded and waiting. It opened a few minutes early and I was able to still order a 2nd about 5 minutes into sale

BadBadJellyBean7• 3 months ago

I got one a day later.

gs17• 3 months ago

I'm hoping that the controller sale was a test/recon run for preventing scalping for the Frame/Machine.

system22• 3 months ago

I have one and didn't have any issues buying, nor heard anyone have any issues buying in the past... In fact, the Steam Controller was considered a flop.

BadBadJellyBean7• 3 months ago

Wrong Steam Controller. Valve released a new one with the same name on the 4th of may. Stupid naming.

Maxatar• 3 months ago

I don't really understand this argument. Is your position that if scalpers didn't exist you'd have a better chance of getting this product?

Scalpers have no effect on the supply of a product, they only affect the demand of the product and specifically they reduce the demand for the product by increasing the price.

roer• 3 months ago

I love the readme on the gitlab page [1]. It feels so.. friendly :)

This repository contains CAD files for the external shell (surface topology) of Steam Controller and the Steam Controller Puck, under a Creative Commons license. This includes an STP model of each, an STL model of each, and an engineering drawing with critical features/keep outs for each.

Feel free to use these to make your own Puck holders, Controller sweaters, or whatever else you want to create!

Your Steam Controller is yours, and you have the right to do with it what you want. That said, we highly recommend you leave it to professionals. Any damage you do will not be covered by your warranty – but more importantly, you might break your Steam Controller, or even get hurt! Be careful, and have fun.

[1] https://gitlab.steamos.cloud/SteamHardware/SteamController

jandrese2• 3 months ago

Imagine if everybody did this. You break some stupid plastic part on something? No need to throw it away, just print an exact replacement on the spot. Or maybe tweak it first so it's less flimsy then print the replacement.

embedding-shape9• 3 months ago

Going a step further, imagine hardware manufacturers noticing specific defects, then publishing new updated CAD files for a part that lasts better than the last, for customers who already have 3D printers to print their own upgrades/"patches".

gh02t• 3 months ago

This was always the dream for 3D printing, heck going back to classic Star Trek replicators and other science fiction. Granted, even with these models available it's kinda difficult to print large organic shapes like the main housing shells on most affordable consumer printers so I suspect there might not be too many people actually doing it. However, having the exact CAD files makes designing mods and 3rd party upgrades much easier.

kube-system2• 3 months ago

Sounds like this is just the external dimensions? That's mostly just useful for creating accessories. That's not too special, Apple does this too. https://developer.apple.com/accessories/dimensional-drawings...

bisby• 3 months ago

This is why I bought a 3d printer.

Headphone piece broke. Replacement was covered under warranty. Once. After that it was $30 a pop from amazon for the replacement part. Both of the parts provided under warranty (it was a set of 2) broke in the same way.

Figured if the parts break that regularly, I would wind up spending $500 in just a few years on replacement parts, might as well just get a printer. The part already had a model available (it was apparently a common issue), and the printed version hasn't broken yet.

I know nothing about making models, so the fact that the community already had the replacement part ready to print for me was a huge win, and Valve doing this basically guarantees that there will be a variety of "Controller stand, with puck slot" and replacement part prints available. HUGE win.

tdb7893• 3 months ago

Large companies obviously are happy to screw their customers in various ways but I've had pretty good luck with smaller and especially more local businesses. I once had a jeweler gift me an ultrasonic cleaner when I asked them how best to clean a difficult to clean ring (presumably they had recently bought a new one).

Caring about the products they make and their customers seems like sorta the default for most people but large companies learn apathy eventually (or maybe it's mostly the companies that prioritize growth this way that become big). I wonder if less top down control at companies (especially by finance investors) would have them be better to consumers.

herpdyderp• 3 months ago

Sometimes I wonder what we did to deserve Valve and how long it can possibly last.

seanw4442• 3 months ago

Gabe better be immortal.

colechristensen• 3 months ago

I think many more companies would operate like this if acquisition and mergers were much more difficult.

benoau2• 3 months ago

We let kids gamble so much money in games that they don't have to nickel and dime the adults.

pjmlp9• 3 months ago

Until the current management retires, as it usually goes.

tjpnz• 3 months ago

I'm optimistic provided they continue to be privately held and don't parachute in a professional executive to be CEO after Gabe departs.

ZekeSulastin2• 3 months ago

If your “we” is Australia, you could have implemented consumer protections then sued Valve for ignoring them: https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/valve-to-pay-3-million...

giancarlostoro• 3 months ago

I just wish they made more games than they currently do. Their games are always nicely polished and unique / creative in their own respect.

mghackerlady3• 3 months ago

Valve will only be good if it stays privately owned. Good things go to shit as soon as investors become involved

riffraff• 3 months ago

I felt the same about early 00s Google. It will probably not last forever.

Night_Thastus• 3 months ago

They're a private company. Not all private companies are good, but all public ones inevitably turn terrible.

benbristow• 3 months ago

Privately owned company, GabeN is getting on a bit now, he does have a son mind, we'll see what happens later on.

artursapek• 3 months ago

Valve practically has a monopoly on PC gaming, I think they're pretty fat and happy too ;D

fareesh• 3 months ago

son of gaben may live upto the legend, otherwise it ends with him

robotswantdata• 3 months ago

Don’t mention the cs case gambling

noncoml• 3 months ago

That's what you get when a company is not public and makes more money than the owner(s) can spend.

*Owner must be a decent human being

notnmeyer• 3 months ago

i hope i’m wrong, but probably as long as gabe does.

artyom5• 3 months ago

It's the other way around.

Valve is the company where we spend a lot of money and they deserve it.

The rest is companies that trick people into giving them money (battlepass! lootboxes!) and they don't deserve it.

People often forget that consumers as a whole are the ones holding the power, and the sad part is that rewarding a company with a good product with your money stopped being the business model and it's now the exception.

denkmoon• 3 months ago

A triumph of private ownership and stewardship over publicly traded corporate governance.

sourcegrift• 3 months ago

~30% commission on each game

taneq2• 3 months ago

I was recently saying to a friend and fellow fan (after getting a Steam Deck, for work purposes obviously) that the stuff Valve does is absolutely how “f#%k you” money should be used.

JXavierH• 3 months ago

I know. Long live Gabe.

sonofhans• 3 months ago

Valve is what our culture deserves from all corporations. The fact that it seems like such an outlier is an indictment.

everyone• 3 months ago

Still essentially Steam is a DRM system + another invasive program running on your pc, that absolutely doesnt need to, in addition to the game you want.

I vote with my wallet, I avoid buying anything from Steam. Gog and Itch.io are where I go out of my way to spend my money.

Itch.io is amazing! All the coolest games are there + the developer experience is about a million times better than Steam, just sensible and utilitarian. Steam dev experience is a kafkaesque nightmare.

Back in 2000 because of these features Steam was the epitome of digital evil. it's just that all other tech companies (google, apple, MS, sony, samsung, etc.) have become so supremely evil over time, whereas Valve has remained at its year 2000 level of evil and so now seems positively angelic compared to its peers.

...

I will also note that Valve probably are one of the biggest heralds of the year of the Linux desktop just by doing tonnes of work making games run in it well and hassle free. The biggest barrier to entry for Linux had long been that games dont work, thats basically solved now. So they get a bonus point for that.. Steam is still filth I dont want or need on my system tho.

vjk800• 3 months ago

It's just due to one person (GabeN) holding majority of the stock and choosing to run the company this way. Gabe will retire or die at some point and then anything might happen.

sevenzero• 3 months ago

Probably more CEOs should go diving regularly. Valve will stay good as long as Gabe is president. I fear it'll go down the drain once he leaves.

muse900• 3 months ago

Really?

I mean are we forgetting about kids gambling lootboxes in CS and Valve doing nothing to regulate it?

I mean yes compared to the rest of the gaming companies that are long way gone like Blizzard etc, Valve seems to be the better, but its not like they are saints...

It always amazes me how us as people forget the past (which is not even far away).

cultofmetatron• 3 months ago

venture capital are the real enemies here. valve has stayed out of that game which is why they've managed to focus on delivering value to their users. as soon as venture capital gets involved, investors are now the customer and the customers are effectivly the product.

blitzar• 3 months ago

what we did to deserve Valve

Privately held company

how long it can possibly last

Till VC's or IPO day

scrollop• 3 months ago

Except for their strong arm tactics forcing software companies to not be able to sell their games cheaper on other platforms:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2g1md0l23o

ubercore• 3 months ago

Dropping half life is the biggest sin, and I will never forgive them.

Onavo• 3 months ago

I think at this point Steam might as well just release the hounds and let third parties build and sell steam compatible hardware (the Android play). Their own attempts have been, well, not great. Dealing with hardware supply chains is a very different game than software. They already have a platform, the hardware is purely for distribution. Whether they make a profit on hardware or not doesn't really matter. They are basically the opposite of Apple.

jdoe1337halo2• 3 months ago

They tried this many years ago with the original steam machines, it went horribly. Also, you can install SteamOS or Bazite on most machines. Not sure what the issue is here.

awkwardpotato• 3 months ago

Steam already supports 3rd-party controllers and VR headsets. SteamOS is available on several 3rd-party handhelds. What more do you need for "steam compatible hardware"?

stetrain• 3 months ago

As far as I know there's nothing preventing third parties from building and selling hardware with SteamOS or a similar software stack.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SteamOS

They aren't going to let you advertise them as Steam-branded hardware without an agreement, but there are multiple handhelds that have done so to be branded officially Steam Compatible.

kgwxd3• 3 months ago

What is "Steam compatible hardware"? Isn't that like saying "App Store compatible hardware"?

bityard• 3 months ago

According to Wikipedia, they already officially support the Lenovo Legion Go S.

Not sure what you mean by "not great," the Steam Deck is awesome. The one in our household is like 3 years old and still sees daily use. They have been very well received by the PC gaming community.

SteamOS is mostly just the regular Steam client on top of Linux. You will get more or less the same overall experience by starting with a reasonably capable GPU, then installing any mainstream Linux distro, then installing the Steam client, and making a few tweaks. Valve has been very active in upstreaming fixes and features to upstream projects like the Linux kernel and Wine, so the Steam Deck (and soon Steam Machine) doesn't actually have any special sauce, it's just a nice self-contained unit for those who just want to play games and not be bothered by the OS under the hood.

hatsunearu• 3 months ago

Valve wasn't always like this. They were infamous for never allowing refunds, but due to EU regulations they just did a complete about face and has one of the friendliest refund policies in the ESD business. Probably just behind Costco or something.

legitster3• 3 months ago

The introduction of the refund made them get rid of their deep discounted flash sales though.

Real OGs remember that you could get fairly new AAA games for a song on, like, a random Wednesday. It was part of the initial appeal of Steam. Those explicitly went away because of the refund policy. https://www.reddit.com/r/Steam/comments/4pnd4p/psa_yes_there... (People were really upset at the time)

Their new refund policy is great, but it wasn't completely free to consumers.

weberer• 3 months ago

It was Australian regulations. The EU was happy to do nothing and keep letting us get ripped off.

2ndorderthought• 3 months ago

I love steam. I have a lot of concerns with a lot of the companies shuffling billions around. But not steam. They treat everyone fair.

The gambling thing is whack but at least it's not polymarket.

AmbroseBierce2• 3 months ago

"Your steam controller is yours, unlike your games, which you have no right to resell, or leave them as inheritance when you die"

CursedSilicon2• 3 months ago

Thank God the publishers had nothing to do with those onerous terms in exchange for using Valves storefront!

Can only hope that Stop Killing Games is the first shell in winning back our digital rights

protimewaster2• 3 months ago

I still think it's weird that Valve is viewed as so friendly to gamers when they're probably more responsible for taking away game ownership on PC than any other one company.

Prior to Steam, I used to routinely buy used games, give away copies of games I didn't play anymore, etc. Steam basically ruined all of that.

fsniper• 3 months ago

I wish more IT companies were like Valve.

CursedSilicon2• 3 months ago

Valve and Costco are the only two companies I respect anymore

Everybody else could stand to take lessons from them

larrry• 3 months ago

Valve and Panic should be models for software companies

butterlesstoast• 3 months ago

It feels very much written by a team of humans. Here's to hoping I'm not wrong.

civvv• 3 months ago

Not sure about their other departments, but at least in March there was no LLM coding in their Source2 & game teams.

https://x.com/ZPostFacto/status/2035784300575305895

Gigachad• 3 months ago

I wonder if these LinkedIn bros know we can all spot their LLM writing clear as day, and it’s repulsive.

weezing• 3 months ago

Valve just can't stop winning.

kaueg• 3 months ago

[random reflection] saying on their gitlab page instead of git page, is comparable to saying on their AWS website instead of Web page? :P

dspillett• 3 months ago

It isn't entirely tautologous. You could use the extra word to location the information, if for some reason the link in the footnote somehow got lost or wasn't included in the first place.

adam_patarino• 3 months ago

Sometimes I think Valve is just showing off

haunter• 3 months ago

Files are here: https://gitlab.steamos.cloud/SteamHardware/SteamController

vablings4• 3 months ago

"FILE_DESCRIPTION((''),'2;1'); FILE_NAME('IBEX_SOLID','2025-11-20T09:57:55',('stevec'),(''), 'CREO PARAMETRIC BY PTC INC, 2020454','CREO PARAMETRIC BY PTC INC, 2020454','');"

Glad to see that valve is using the best CAD software :)

malfist• 3 months ago

2020454

And the latest!

rjsw2• 3 months ago

Using a data schema standard that was withdrawn in 2005.

vablings4• 3 months ago

Nothing wrong with AP203, it has the most support in other software's. Obviously AP214 would be nice for colors but the model is probably shrink-wrapped (AP242 is not needed, nobody needs PMI)

Just because it was withdrawn in 2005 does not exclude its wide use in industry

arian_2• 3 months ago

More companies should do this when they discontinue hardware. The community will keep it alive longer than you ever would, and it costs you nothing.

cubefox2• 3 months ago

This is the brand new Steam Controller though, not the old, discontinued one.

poisonborz2• 3 months ago

Even if Valve and Steam is great and overall a blessing for the PC space, I don't like the direction they take with this controller. It only works with Steam, it can't work on a desktop OS without it, despite standard layout. It is a subtle move towards a walled garden.

Fire-Dragon-DoL• 3 months ago

Kinda. SteamOS is open source, so it's not really walled.

It's possible they deferred making generic drivers to release faster and those will come out later,kinda like steamOS windows drivers came out later

tapoxi2• 3 months ago

The driver exists in the proprietary Steam client, not in SteamOS itself.

drakythe2• 3 months ago

As someone else said, the driver is in Steam, not SteamOS. Even on a Steam Deck you have to run Steam in desktop mode to have the buttons on the deck work.

maccard2• 3 months ago

Does that mean that chrome for non standard behaviours are ok because chrome is open source?

ux2664783• 3 months ago

SteamOS is open source, so it's not really walled.

SteamOS is technically licensed under GPL, but Valve has yet to release the source code for 3.0 (4 years ago...)

The last activity in the public kernel repository was 9 years ago.

noitdoesnt• 3 months ago

You don't need SteamOS. This is strictly a Windows issue and the controller works fine on MacOS and Linux.

Aerolfos2• 3 months ago

Microsoft has made such a mess of controller I/O that they were kind of forced to go with their jank translation layer made from scratch and running with their main product - it makes sense, especially built up piece by piece

Of course now that they've made controllers work properly, they'll use that work to support their own controller, and in particular enable features like analog triggers + gyro aiming + rumble (xinput can't do these simultaneously), extra buttons (xinput can't do this), and the trackpads (you guessed it).

And it is Windows, because on Linux the controller does work without Steam if you get the right drivers. It doesn't get the full features but it's functional as a gamepad, at least.

ZekeSulastin2• 3 months ago

It doesn’t get the full features but it’s functional as a gamepad at least

So it’s the controller and not Windows then, if partial functionality is okay (which seems fine to me).

bsimpson4• 3 months ago

I'm not sure that's Valve's fault.

Windows is designed for gamepads to emulate an Xbox controller. All those Steam Deck competitors are implemented as an Xbox controller with a partial keyboard grafted on. That's why you need Legion Space or Armoury Crate to make them usable - they tell the controller firmware what keybindings to send for those rear paddles.

InputPlumber serves this purpose on Linux. Without it, you just get ABXY, start, select, nav, and shoulder buttons - the same layout that's been on the Xbox forever, because games don't understand the random partial keyboard that shares an internal USB hub with the Xbox pad clone. Thankfully on Linux, you're not stuck with one durable keybinding per paddle - once InputPlumber unifies that USB hub back into a controller, you can map all its buttons per-game with Steam Input. This controller brings that same convenience to Windows too.

It's not that Valve is making a proprietary controller - it's that the Windows gaming ecosystem assumes a proprietary controller, and Valve doesn't conform to that assumption. Instead, they provide a fully featured controller and let you configure it per-game in Steam. Considering Steam is the launcher most people use for most games, that's a totally reasonable tack.

doodlesdev• 3 months ago

Answering a now-deleted answer regarding PS4 controllers working out of the box on Windows:

PS4 controller support on Windows used to be a huge hassle, because you had to install DS4Windows to make it work. Nowadays, Windows automatically downloads the proprietary drivers to make it work, but I'm not sure if that covers the PS4 controller-specific features such as the touchpad, gyroscope, lightbar or if it enables XInput support. I think the PS4 controller situation supports what OP above is claiming.

j_maffe7• 3 months ago

Considering Steam is the launcher most people use for most games, that's a totally reasonable tack.

That's exactly how you create a walled garden. You build a garden. Get people in. Then wall it up.

lsaferite6• 3 months ago

Windows supports Generic HID game controllers with 8 axis and 128 buttons already. And a few hat switches. And if your devices needs more than that, you can enumerate as multiple devices if needed. Not sure if there is a HID type for rumble support though. So, there's no reason a Steam Controller couldn't operate without a special driver. Some functionality may require custom software to support though. I have several Virpil controls and the entire setup will function as a simple set of generic HID devices. The only special bit is some software you can optionally run to control advance per-application remapping. I don't have a Steam Controller, so I have no idea if it can show up as a generic HID controller or not.

HeckFeck• 3 months ago

That spliced in USB hub looks messy. Does a new controller necessitate Xinput? I assume Windows still supports DirectInput, which was used in the past with more complex controllers. I'd recently brought up "JOY.CPL" in Windows 10. It would hinge on whether DirectInput can talk to games that expect Xinput.

junaru• 3 months ago

Id bet some money it has more to do with certification. Consoles ban 3rd party controllers that provide a competitive edge. Steam controller is exactly that.

raincole• 3 months ago

Wait, really? So if you have two copies of the same game, one bought from Steam and the other from Epic Store, Steam Controller will only work for the Steam one?

Karawebnetwork• 3 months ago

You can add any executable to Steam, not only the games they sell, as far as I know.

ranger207• 3 months ago

The controller will work with Steam running in the background

mitkebes3• 3 months ago

Just add the launcher to steam, and you can set the input profile for the game just fine.

Better yet if you use Heroic instead of the official Epic launcher, it will let you add the game directly to Steam.

This is basically how people use 3rd party games on the steam deck. You want them added to steam as 3rd party games for easy access in game mode, so you just add any non-steam games to steam. Heroic and other launchers make it pretty effortless, but you can do it manually as well.

mitkebes3• 3 months ago

It does work as a keyboard/mouse without Steam. The idea is to have it default to something you can navigate the OS with until you launch steam big picture mode.

The original steam controller had a program to allow users to map the controls without steam, hopefully it will add support for the new one as well.

Ethee• 3 months ago

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by this. Operating systems don't typically include drivers out of the box for every single interface that could possibly connect to it. Often you'll get 'generic' drivers on Windows that at least map some of the basic inputs, but up until like late Windows 8 iirc Windows didn't even include that. Previously if you wanted to connect ANY controller to your PC you had to install third party drivers to make that work. So Valve bundling their controller drivers with steam just kinda... makes sense? Are you saying you would prefer to go find the drivers or have them written by not Valve instead? I really don't understand the 'walled garden' take here. You could go build your own drivers for this if you really wanted to, you don't need to use Valve's software.

hahn-kev• 3 months ago

But they're not drivers included with steam. In order for it to work you must launch the game through steam.

Karliss• 3 months ago

USB HID protocol has been designed with huge flexibility and self descriptive devices in mind so that in theory you shouldn't require a custom drivers for vast majority of current input devices even controllers order of magnitude more complex than anything currently sells. Just like you don't need a custom driver for each usb flash driver.

In practice half-assed HID drivers by OS, badly designed OS<->application APIs, hardware manufacturers copy pasting HID descriptors from other devices, not following the standard properly, firmware bugs getting fixed with drivers instead of firmware fixes, intentional discrepancies from standard, console manufacturers reinventing the wheel has lead to the current mess.

retired9• 3 months ago

I'm getting an 8BitDo controller because of the Steam lock-in on the Steam Controller. I can use the 8BitDo on all of my hardware without having to install software. It doesn't have the trackpads but for the rest is a very solid controller and also has Hall effect joysticks.

chowells• 3 months ago

The Steam controller doesn't have Hall effect sticks; they're TMR. Also, my 8bitdo controller does need special software to use a couple buttons on it. And it's the cheapest possible model, not a super advanced one. It just has more buttons than xinput supports.

This isn't to say that you're wrong about your main point. Steam is heavyweight to use just as an input profile selector at application launch. But you should be careful about details if you choose to include them.

opan3• 3 months ago

If you want to utilize all features of an 8BitDo controller at once, you also need Steam. XInput mode means no gyro, no back buttons bindable in software, Switch mode gives you gyro but makes your triggers digital, and you still can't bind the back buttons in software. You're limited to duplicating an existing input via the 8BitDo app and binding it globally at the firmware level. If you use the 8BitDo Pro 2 with Steam in DInput mode, you get analog triggers, gyro, and the back buttons are bindable in software per-game. This was not the case on release, 8BitDo and Valve worked together and gave this improved support via an update.

The software around controllers is universally bad, and Valve is the first to really try to fix it. We need a successor to XInput that is less limited.

Unai• 3 months ago

I can highly recommend Gamesir controllers. I haven't tried all of course, they make a lot of different ones, but generally it's a great brand for very high quality controllers at crap-controller price. Better bang for the buck than 8BitDo (who focus more on style than functionality).

I've no relationship with the brand btw, I'm just a happy customer.

tencentshill• 3 months ago

It has an on-device fallback mode when Steam isn't running, and you can program (from steam) how it appears to the OS in that mode. It was originally developed for people plugging in their own PCs to a TV, so operates as a trackpad by default. Would your preference to be for them to release a Steam Controller programming app on every platform? Push Microsoft to integrate its extended functionality with Windows xinput?

nerdjon4• 3 months ago

It only works with Steam, it can't work on a desktop OS without it

I was very curious about this, No video I saw even said anything about the Steam Software being needed, and is extremely disappointing, on my computer I make a point that I only have steam running if I am playing a steam game. If I am not it is not running and it does not auto start.

Now if it works with steam closed, I am slightly more ok with it but I would love a driver that is not coupled with Steam.

Though I do think it aligns with Valve’s initiatives lately. I don’t think I would go so far as to say walled garden but SteamOS is clearly geared towards using the Steam Store for everything (sure it has desktop mode, but the focus is clear) and their half assed Windows support (despite promises) on the Steam Deck.

Don’t get me wrong, Valve has done a lot of good but I do worry at how quick we are to defend them. I mean I even see people defending their rumored use of AI saying things like “well if there is any company I would trust it would be Valve”. Yeah that won’t backfire.

Edit:

Wait, it won’t even work with a game if it isn’t launched through steam? Are the other comments correct? If that is true, Yeah that is a big nope for me and of course more are not talking about it.

I refuse to let steam or any software run that is not related to my current task.

Why do we criticize Razer for shady practices with their hardware and software but it is fine that Valve did this?

eNV25• 3 months ago

This is a windows issue, not a hardware issue.

somat2• 3 months ago

I expect it to work fine without steam. Nobody is going to invest in a completely propriety comms protocol. it will probably be usbHID and a usb keyboard descriptor(or whatever the bluetooth equivalent is). Instruct your usb attach code to attach it as a game pad and it will work fine.

However, the configuration utility for it is part of steam, it is a highly configurable controller, so much so that it could be argued much of it's utility is lost without this configurator.

jpk2f22• 3 months ago

I'm not sure what you mean, it works outside of Steam. For example, SDL has full steam controller support.

foresto3• 3 months ago

It only works with Steam, it can't work on a desktop OS without it, despite standard layout.

This review says otherwise:

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/05/the-new-steam-controll...

Using The Steam Controller Completely Outside Of Steam
[...] However, at least on the newly released Fedora KDE 44, the system does appear to detect it as a basic gamepad out of the box.
[...] I installed LIMBO from GOG with GE-Proton and it worked great even with vibration.

More example games are described there as well. A few apparently get confused by the Steam Controller presenting itself as a game controller, a keyboard, and a mouse, but most seem to be fine.

Those tests were done on Linux. I wonder if it's any different on Windows.

graynk• 3 months ago

it is different on Windows, yeah. it presents itself as several keyboards and mice and does not work as a gamepad.

on Linux I think there's a kernel level driver, but I'm not sure

selfmodruntime2• 3 months ago

For now. Valve has a long history of shipping compatibility after release.

somat2• 3 months ago

How custom is it?

I assume(hope?) it is usb device class HID(or whatever the equivalent is for blootooth devices), this is well understood and there will be SDL/independent drivers for it in a day.

On the one hand Microsoft's Xinput is sort of nice for standard interoperability. On the other it is sort of a crippled specification, woefully inadequate for anything other than a xbox controller, their earlier direct input driver spec(xinput is a shim on top of this) was more capable. but I still don't think it can specify a touchpad.

ThatPlayer3• 3 months ago

SDL, who's main developer has been at Valve for years, already has added support for it back in November: https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL/blob/main/src/joystick/hid...

hurricanepootis2• 3 months ago

I have an OG Steam controller.

On Linux, whenever I connect to my computer without steam running, it will show up as a standard USB HID device. This means, funny enough, I can use the trackpads like a mouse n stuff on my desktop environment.

However, SDL3 (and SDL2 via sdl2-compat and SDL1 via sdl12-compat with sdl2-compat (lol)) supports the steam controller. This means that, without using steam, I get native gyro support and stuff in software like Ryujinb and Citron.

Furthermore, at least on linux, there is sc-controller which is a userland driver that makes the steam controller present itself as a standard Xbox controller. Of course, this means you aren't gonna be able to use the fancy features directly in the game, but it does mean for software that doesn't use SDL and isn't on steam directly, it will act as an FOSS alternative steam input layer. Also, it even has Cemuhook motion server. This mean before SDL3 added gyro support for the steam controller (giving any emulator using SDL3 and SDL2 via sdl2-compat gyro support native), you could have still used gyro controls. Also, with Proton now, I think there is a flag to tell Proton to use SDL input method instead of steam input. I think this means (i have to test it), that you can use SDL to use steam controller with proton outside of steam.

I think on windows, we will see something like sc-controller.

scheeseman486• 3 months ago

It's features work fine without Steam on Linux.

AngryData• 3 months ago

I do wish there was some kind of stand-alone driver for it. But I think part of the problem is also Windows themselves whos gamepad support is a pile of dog crap for anything that isn't a direct xbox controller replacement. Even retro gamepads pretend to be an xbox controller because they know if they don't 90% of games will be broken.

mock-possum2• 3 months ago

It only works with Steam, it can't work on a desktop OS without

Wait what?? Is this true? How did I not know this important detail?

ranguna• 3 months ago

Only for windows, and maybe mac

Orygin5• 3 months ago

I wish people stopped spreading misinformation like this.

No the controller works for any game, outside of steam, without steam launched.

The only restriction is that to configure the controller, you need steam.

Otherwise, you can select a profile for desktop use that is mkb or a generic gamepad, and run your games through that. Of course, you won't have many of the modern features, since XInput does not support anything fancy. Want these features on your controller (not just the steam one, the 8bitdo, the switch 1/2, etc..) you will need modern input API... which are provided by Steam!

There was and probably will be third party applications to configure the controller outside of Steam. It is NOT a walled garden at all and imo, the best of both world.

poisonborz2• 3 months ago

This contradicts all reviews I've read, but good if true.

cubefox2• 3 months ago

No the controller works for any game, outside of steam, without steam launched.

Can you provide any evidence for this claim?

nerdjon4• 3 months ago

To be frank, it sounds like you are also spreading misinformation. In a follow-up you even said that you have not received yours to test and that you are only assuming based on the previous steam controller.

But your comment here is very definitive and is a major problem at how quick we are to defend Valve when we don't actually know.

maxglute• 3 months ago

Yeah it'd be great if they can embed the steam input layer and have it run on other consoles, but there's too much overlay to disentangle.

z_open• 3 months ago

How does it work if this is under the creative commons license? Can 3rd parties sell this controller per the model? Other 3rd party vendors got around this by making a very minor change.

throawayonthe• 3 months ago

There exist multiple CC variations, this instance is Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Public License

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 wouldn't let you sell it no

wildzzz• 3 months ago

It's just the external topology so it's really only going to be useful for making things that attach to the controller (skins, mounts, accessibility adapters, etc) or just toy models. Valve asks you to contact them if you want to sell an accessory using this model.

cortesoft6• 3 months ago

You could use the shape of the controller, but I don't think that is really giving much of an advantage to third party manufacturers. Scanning the shape of the controller and creating a clone with that shape is the easiest part of creating a generic competitor.

logicalappeals• 3 months ago

W valve - Good Guy Gabe does it again.

pawelduda3• 3 months ago

Compare it to Sony who still put potentiometers in their controllers. Good luck desoldering and replacing that once analogs inevitably start to drift. It's super easy to damage something else in the process as I learned.

a963• 3 months ago

Plenty of people indeed do have good "luck" and repair these, apparently even putting in better parts.

pawelduda3• 3 months ago

yes, you can replace them with hall effect analogs, as they should be right out of the factory

vortegne2• 3 months ago

I'm no big Sony supporter or even a fan of the PS5 controllers, but changing the sticks is not that scary. I find reassembling the whole thing cleanly harder than swapping out a stick assembly.

pawelduda3• 3 months ago

The pain point was desoldering the old analog, I found a lot of other people online struggle with this particular part.

It's probably way easier if you have proper soldering setup at home, which won't be true for average person just expecting an easy fix. I understand how it can be quick and simple for someone with more experience

ittiwdwysylm• 3 months ago

man i love valve

Findecanor• 3 months ago

I sometimes watch "Ben Heck Hacks" live-streams rebuilding game controllers for people with disabilities [1]. People like him are what these files are for.

1: https://www.youtube.com/@BenHeckHacks/streams

dwrodri• 3 months ago

I wish computer mice did this.

I know multiple people whom are quite attached to 10+ year old mice that haven't been manufactured for quite some time, and would like to keep the familiar shape and design.

iugtmkbdfil8342• 3 months ago

Just in case anyone from valve is reading:

Dont care about controller, memory card or deck charger or whatever other irrelevant addition to existing products you have. I just want an update on the Frame. And yesterday too. Thank you for very much for your time and attention. Until our eyes meet again.

luqtas• 3 months ago

what a bad boy we got over here

iugtmkbdfil8342• 3 months ago

Apologies for not responding sooner. I did not want you to feel neglected. You know that Valve does not care much about what some rando online wrote in HN post right? Well, have you considered the possibility that they care even less about you defending it:D? Just a thought for these trying times.

wafflemaker2• 3 months ago

Looks like a super cool feature for disabled players.

Regular controllers are good for people with the default number of arms, legs and fingers. But if you have some kind of disability, it's often pretty unique.

Regular game/computer controllers for disabled folks were pretty pricey last time I've checked.

AFAIK, 3d printing is not that expensive. Many places have hacker spaces or just people who print for almost free.

So I guess it's a huge win for people who need accommodations. I'm very happy for that!

I'm not disabled myself, it was just the first thought I had when I've read the news.

cromka• 3 months ago

For disabled players, this is also super promising: https://byowave.com/products/proteus-controller

pezezin• 3 months ago

Regular controllers are good for people with the default number of arms, legs and fingers.

And then there was the N64 controller...

protocolture• 3 months ago

That third hand really gave you and advantage.

Schlagbohrer2• 3 months ago

wtetzner11• 3 months ago

I don't know why people find it so confusing. I don't remember any kids I knew at the time being confused by it.

It just provides you with two different ways to hold it: one where you're using the D-Pad, and one where you're using the analog stick.

I'm not claiming it was the pinnacle of controller design or anything, but it was fine.

cheeze• 3 months ago

I know that msft gets a lot of (rightful) hate, but mad props for the accessibility controller.

montecarl• 3 months ago

They also did this for the original steam controller, which I used a lot. When the back panel broke (its a trigger and battery cover) I was able to 3d print a replacement that has held up great.

https://steamcommunity.com/games/353370/announcements/detail...

LoganDark• 3 months ago

The joysticks in the STP file don't seem to properly import into Plasticity; the STL files don't have this problem. Though I appreciate that there is even STP at all!

scotty79• 3 months ago

This should be mandatory for any company that wants to be allowed to sell their products in the market.

It's information age. Information about publicly offered stuff should be public.

Unfortunately we rely on voluntary heartwarming gestures like this one and reverse engineering attempts by hobbyists.

nish__• 3 months ago

Valve is an exemplary company.

wurtapp• 3 months ago

Pretty cool

AbraKdabra• 3 months ago

When I have my own house I will put the biggest picture of Gaben possible in my office.

nkallen• 3 months ago

Here is the model viewable in a web browser, for anyone interested https://share.plasticity.xyz/r/BDt8nFGQYVsdhi-v5SHSOn6jtBQUV...

tylervigen2• 3 months ago

Can anyone share their experience enjoying the two pads they put on their controllers?

I have a Steam Deck and love it, but the only experience I have with those pads is “dammit I accidentally touched the pad again.” If I want a mouse, I just connect a Bluetooth mouse.

I thought for sure everyone knew it was a flop and we’d never see it again, but obviously that’s not right since they are back. What am I missing?

LukaD• 3 months ago

The touch pads work great for emulating a mouse in certain games. I've played many hours of Civ V and VI on the deck thanks to the touch pads. You can even configure them to act as a radial menu or touch menu where different areas of the touch pad emulate different keys.

tylervigen2• 3 months ago

Thanks. Is it not annoying to play Civ with a touchpad vs a mouse? Or is this just a convenience for situations where you can’t use a mouse?

radlad• 3 months ago

Can't wait to use it as a mouse for my Windows-based couch gaming PC.

opan3• 3 months ago

Besides being a mouse, you can map it to a virtual menu with as many shortcuts as you want, the shortcuts being key presses/combos, allowing you to bind way more things than would otherwise fit on a controller. You can also set up mouse regions so that the trackpad only maps to a part of the screen and will instantly jump there, like for moving around an inventory window or minimap.

For games without controller support or where KB+M has an advantage, the trackpads are a game changer. Imagine a hotbar like in Minecraft or Terraria, but instead of having to go left or right one at a time with your bumpers, you could spawn a radial menu with the touchpad and instantly flick to "8" or "5" or "1" to select those slots.

alanbernstein• 3 months ago

In steam deck desktop mode, the touchpad-as-mouse makes it just bearable enough to use. I can't use desktop mode with a wireless Xbox controller with no touchpads. It's really the missing input type that makes the steam deck a complete tv-docked PC.

pprotas• 3 months ago

Played Factorio for tens of hours using the Steam Deck touchpad

Best usecase for them (according to me) is top down strategy/base building games

Some people use them for radial menus, like selecting a weapon or pings or whatever

cpt_sobel3• 3 months ago

I've always been a M+KB player and especially for FPS games I've always found it impossible to aim with the sticks, so the trackpads really helped in this regard. Especially for older games that may not natively support joysticks it was a game changer (I recently played Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay)

tejohnso• 3 months ago

It's hard to imagine quickly centering onto a headshot pixel (or group of maybe 12 pixels) with a trackpad. Especially if the target is moving.

I'd like to see a video of someone demonstrating real in-game use of these trackpads on different types of games. None of the reviews I've seen so far go into any detail on it.

EDIT: I found the trackpad usage detail I was looking for. But it's not using the new controller, just a steam deck. Looks a lot more accurate than I imagined. https://youtu.be/0BQEg3puMsc

merpkz• 3 months ago

I played through whole Half-Life 2 on steam deck with aiming and shooting using right touch pad and it was alright. Strongly suspect though the game should have a support for it properly otherwise it feels janky in everything else I tried with it. No idea what's the use case for left pad though - I sometimes play with it during loading screens due to nice sound it makes, that's about it

marvinified• 3 months ago

Great news! Open-sourcing the CAD files under Creative Commons is a fantastic move by Valve. This will enable the community to create custom modifications and accessibility adaptations for the Steam Controller.

hsuduebc2• 3 months ago

The day Gaben would fade away will be very sad moment for gaming industry. Steam is rare incredible company.

tape_measure• 3 months ago

Cool! Other examples of this are Apple and Ford. https://developer.apple.com/accessories/Accessory-Design-Gui... https://www.ford.com/support/how-tos/owner-resources/vehicle...

TH3F4llen1• 3 months ago

I can't believe that it sold out in 30 minutes!

numlock862• 3 months ago

It sold out in less than an hour. Scalpers are at it again. Units are showing up for as much as $300 in resell-value already. What I don't get is why their shop page just gives me an "out of stock" panel, instead of the purchase button. Why won't they just let me buy and pay it, and have it ship whenever? Is having customers to regularly check for new stock (and potentially missing it) better than ... just having them buy it in advance like a pre-order? I really don't get it. Like wouldn't it even make for a better forecasting indicator when it comes to resupplying?

danpalmer2• 3 months ago

...in the US. Other countries have stock.

numlock862• 3 months ago

As a resident of Germany, I disagree.

Melonai• 3 months ago

Yeah I'm pretty sure there's no stock around in every single region, at least according to this: https://www.steamhardwarestock.com/history

Note that they don't check every second so they might miss some smaller restocks (or really orders which got closed and resulted in a few more units being re-added, since the actual stock is fully gone).

I've been trying really hard to get this new Steam Controller, I've been dreaming about playing grand strategies from my bed on the TV, but using a mouse in the bed is awful! This controller is essentially made for me. No luck so far at all the last few days, despite spending quite a few hours checking every few seconds! Region is also Germany. I've given up until the next restock Valve has announced will come "soon", but I'm guessing I'll miss it because there's too many bots aimed at their store page, not even sure why to be frank, are there really thousands of people willing to spend 3x for a singular controller, even if it's a nice one? The market seems to indicate that.

mock-possum2• 3 months ago

I honestly don’t understand that world. I wanted one, I was willing to drop a hundred bucks on a controller I wanted but did not need - but they messed up the launch, they didn’t have enough supply to cover demand, so I shrugged and moved on with the my life.

Who is actually out there 1) buying up these controllers to scalp them and 2) who is actually buying them at an inflated price from scalpers?

Like what is the point, what fun is there in playing this game… when I’ve already got a controller I’m happy with? You know? Why worry about this?

golph• 3 months ago

Valve is "messing up" all launches in my opinion if I go by your definition. They always are out of stock pretty fast. Look at the Steam Deck. To this day you have to check every day (at least in Germany) if there is any stock now.

For the scalpers part; I know a lot of people who would pull out a stack of money for anything Valve/Steam branded. I personally needed a new controller and when I saw the release date I set multiple alarms because at some point you just know how fast they’ll be sold out.

tacocataco• 3 months ago

Like what is the point, what fun is there in playing this game…

I got to ask What made you want to live this kind of life?

He said, "There ain't no rest for the wicked

Money don't grow on trees I got bills to pay, I got mouths to feed There ain't nothing in this world for free

I know I can't slow down, I can't hold back Though you know, I wish I could Oh no, there ain't no rest for the wicked Until we close our eyes for good"

Cage The Elephant - "Ain't No Rest For The Wicked"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2Z0sON2UPc

fxwin3• 3 months ago

It sold out in less than an hour. Scalpers are at it again.

"Underpriced good at it again" would be more accurate.

saghm3• 3 months ago

God forbid a company want to sell something for a smaller profit than they can make by selling it only to the people with that most money

LelouBil• 3 months ago

It's not underpriced at all.

nicman23• 3 months ago

GigaBASED, FOSS-pilled. Gaben protects

arian_2• 3 months ago

Valve will open-source the entire controller, the operating system, the hardware schematics, and the manufacturing process before they'll tell you what's happening with Half-Life 3.

hacker_88• 3 months ago

Keychron did it a while ago

account4224• 3 months ago

I wish people would stop referring to "creative common licenses" as if they were even remotely comparable. The license in this case is CC BY-NC-SA which at least allows derivatives but really anything NC should not exist in CC even if its not as bad as the no-derivate jokes.

4chandaily• 3 months ago

CC = "Creative Commons" not "Covetous Corporations"

If you're trying to make a profit, you can invest capital to do your own development or reach out to the source to arrange compensation.

This astroturfing of open licenses as if they are solely for the exploitation of profit and not of the common good is a terrible trend.

They engineered something and gave it away for free. It appears as if you are complaining that you can't use it to generate profit. This seems entitled to me, am I misunderstanding your position?

cpt_sobel3• 3 months ago

Does the release of the controller mean that valve solved the issues with the supply chain of their announced products? I know that the main problem is the rising prices of memory chips, but I would hope this leads to an announcement about the Steam Machine and (I'm still hoping...) HLX/HL3

emsign• 3 months ago

Valve is an exception in a rotten business.

subarctic• 3 months ago

Any word on when their new hardware will come out? It's been 6 months since the steam machine etc was announced and you still can't order one

Bjartr• 3 months ago

IIRC it's been delayed due to the recent increase in RAM prices

hydrogen7800• 3 months ago

I downloaded one of the models, but it is only the outer mold line, with no internal features. Not sure how useful this is to someone who needs to replace their shell, or modify it.

meigwilym• 3 months ago

I believe it's for people who want to design enclosures, stands etc for their controllers

jviotti• 3 months ago

This sounds amazing.

As somebody not very familiar with CAD/3D printing, etc how hard is it to produce it myself (couple units for personal use)? What would be the average cost? Did anybody do it?

atrus• 3 months ago

It's just the "outline" of the controller/puck, it doesn't include internal features for the internals. You won't be building your own controller off these files (without a lot of work).

It's more helpful for making things that conform to the controller, like a holder or stand for your desk or carrying case.

Schlagbohrer2• 3 months ago

As long as we are doing controller chat, I want to reminisce about the original Xbox Elite controller with replaceable batteries. Very expensive but the weight was nice, the replaceable buttons and joysticks were great, and the replaceable batteries meant that a rechargable battery wasn't going to degrade overtime and make it unusable.

Unfortunately it had some real flaws. The back buttons weren't supported even on windows, I had to use 3rd party software like REWASD to map them to keyboard keys. And despite the high cost of the device, the rubber on it degraded and broke off pretty quickly. And the controller didn't have backlit buttons!

danborn26• 3 months ago

Open sourcing the CAD files is a huge win for repairability. I wish more hardware companies would adopt this approach for discontinued products.

etskinner• 3 months ago

They only open-sourced the external surface, not the internals, so it doesn't help repairability much

NoMoreNicksLeft• 3 months ago

What, no gerbers?

h4kunamata• 3 months ago

Without reading the README, just by seeing the STP file I knew Valve wants the community to give its controller life.

geronest• 2 months ago

Sometimes I love Volvo... The interesting part is not the CAD files themselves, but the signal/no-cover engineering diagrams. That’s the kind of detail modders usually have to reverse engineer themselves.

Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license

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