this post was submitted on 21 Apr 2026
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[–] chisel@piefed.social 73 points 2 days ago (9 children)

I still hold firm that the first steam controller is GOATed and it only failed because the world wasn't ready for it yet.

[–] Chais@sh.itjust.works 63 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It also failed because they had to stop producing it due to some patent troll.

[–] mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works 39 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

This. Fuck SCUF and their owners Corsair

Back buttons are an obvious modification kf previous designs; they aren't patentable.

[–] cybercafe@lemmy.world 31 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I still have mine and I agree. Though I do like the changes on this new one to more mirror the steamdeck.

[–] hayvan@piefed.world 2 points 2 days ago (4 children)

I wish I could get an original one, but the new one being in line with the deck is great because the deck is ergonomic as duck!

[–] Boost@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You can get them for pretty reasonable prices on eBay. I got mine last year for like $60

[–] hayvan@piefed.world 1 points 1 day ago

Thanks, lemme look at second hands.

[–] ripcord@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Why can't you get an original one?

[–] mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Valve got sued by a patent troll over the back buttons.

Fuck SCUF and Corsair

[–] ripcord@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

But I just bought an original one

[–] M137@lemmy.today 4 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) (1 children)

Not new from Valve, they haven't sold or made any more since 2019. You either bought it second hand or from some third-party shop that just had some left in stock.

[–] ripcord@lemmy.world -2 points 21 hours ago

No one said new

I have extras (used, good shape) if you’re serious and want to discuss in DMs. Not a scam, I just bought 4 when they unloaded the old stock cheap and would entertain giving you one.

[–] pycorax@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago

I hope it's more ergonomic than the Deck is because the proximity of the face buttons to the edge of the device on the Deck make it really difficult to press compared with an Xbox controller. With the Xbox controller your thumb has a nice uninterruptable range of motion when moving between the buttons. However, on the Deck, trying to press the B button especially causes the thumb to hit the part of your hand below the index finger.

Either that or I just have small hands.

[–] Goodeye8@piefed.social 15 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I felt like replacing one of the two sticks with a trackpad just ended up being the worst of both worlds. You don't get the accuracy of using a mouse and you don't get any of the design benefits of having twin sticks. The vast majority of controller supported games are designed with twin sticks in mind. Crimson Desert is a great example from recent memory because I can't imagine doing circular motions on the right trackpad, which is what you need to do for one skill and the fishing minigame. My thumbs are too lazy for that. But with a stick that's easy enough to do. Overall fighting games are harder, flying games are harder, twin-stick shooters are almost impossible. Any game that requires some stick-like movements from the right stick instantly get harder to play.

I'm not hating on the Steam Controller, there were quite a lot of innovations I would've loved with twin stick controller. The return of the twin sticks is the main reason I'm excited for the controller. I'm also happy with the Dpad coming back because I always felt that was also somewhat clunky on the first controller. Overall I think this one might end up being GOATed.

[–] dreamkeeper@literature.cafe 1 points 1 day ago

Yeah I don't get why people praise the trackpads on it so much. Trackpads are such ass and always have been. Some people will just praise valve no matter what they do.

[–] Deconceptualist@leminal.space 16 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Mostly yes, but it wasn't flawless. Those trackpads are quite loud (compared to the Deck), the ABXY buttons are a bit too small and awkwardly placed, and there are just many times that I want a second thumbstick. Also it lacks touch-to-engage for the gyro but that's a newer invention.

I think the most impressive innovation came from pairing it with Steam Input. That system is still wildly underappreciated; it's what lets you turn the trackpads into things like custom radial menus.

[–] dreamkeeper@literature.cafe 1 points 1 day ago

I despise trackpads so I never bought a steam controller. But steam input is money. It made some of my old PC favorites like Thief playable with a controller.

[–] ripcord@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I find it breaks my game immersion 🤷‍♂️

[–] Nibodhika@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

I love my steam controller, but to me it wasn't a good replacement for controller games. Don't get me wrong, it's great and the ONLY alternative to play non-controller games (and I put FPS games in this category), but trying to play most games that waere actually designed for a controller always felt off. The lack of a proper d-pad made it worse for pixel perfect games like Dead Cells, and while the track pad is great for aiming by emulating a mouse and adding gyro, most games also use the thumb stick for mini-games or something that feels weird with the track pad. And yes, I know I could setup layers to solve that, but it's just easier to grab another controller.

On the other hand, since I held my Steam Deck I've been wanting a controller that was the exact same thing. It works 100% like a normal controller, plus has 2 trackpads and 4 back buttons. They fixed every single issue I had with the OG controller, kept everything I loved about it, and even added some things I didn't knew I needed (extra back buttons, capacitive gyro, etc).

[–] KiwiTB@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I use mine every day. Also, it never failed.

[–] djdarren@piefed.social 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

How do you use yours? I have a couple, and have never managed to figure out how to get them to pair properly to either my Mac or my Linux machine. I mean, they pair, but then I can't really seem to use them for much.

[–] KiwiTB@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

You just load steam, set your profile of choice in Steam Input for your game and go.

[–] isyasad@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

What do you use it for? The only game I found that worked really well was Metroid Prime (after a ton of tweaking)

[–] KiwiTB@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Every controller game, and select mouse ones. It's especially good at FPS games over a normal controller thanks to it's gyro.

[–] teslekova@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Ooo. You can use the tilt to aim? That sounds amazing.

[–] KiwiTB@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yeah so you use the pads for normal aiming and refine with the gyro. It works well tho takes time to get used to it.

[–] teslekova@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago

Ah, nice. It's a long time since I tried playing a shooter on a console. It's good to know they've addressed the mushiness of the aiming.

[–] SolSerkonos@piefed.social 2 points 1 day ago

I hate shooters on console, but shooters on console with tilt-aiming are way more palatable for me. Only way I managed to play BOTW on Switch and Horizon: Zero Dawn on PS4.

[–] TrousersMcPants@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The thing that killed it for me is that the touch pads were just terrible as replacements for the dpad and right analog stick

[–] ripcord@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I agree, although I believe it was:

60% society not ready for the awesome

40% people with small hands

[–] jacksilver@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

100% reason to remember the name.

But also:

  • Only one thumbstick
  • Terrible Dpad
[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago
[–] dreamkeeper@literature.cafe 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Lmao. More like 60% of people know that replacing sticks with trackpads was an awful idea. Valve tried too hard and failed, and they know they failed by the looks of it

[–] ripcord@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

All they know is that society still isn't ready

[–] LiveLM@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 days ago

Fully and entirely correct.