Steam Controller is Out of Stock*

That's true, that should just work. I guess I just hate the dongle life haha.

But that's no fault of the deck or the controller. I'm just glad it has Bluetooth backup. Options are nice.

Isn't the puck USB? Just plug it into the Deck Dock, then it should in theory use the 2.4 GHz over Bluetooth? Unless for some reason it won't do that?

Bummer. But full features otherwise?

Depending on how much lag, I could deal with that

Only via bluetooth, which has significantly more lag

That's fair

I play docked occasionally, but there are a lot of games I don't feel like I *can* play docked without backbuttons/trackpads/gyro/etc. I'm assuming a lot of the people who really wanted to buy one of these were in the same camp as me, where they constantly felt inconvenienced by the lack of deck controls when using regular controllers.

I have a lot of controllers (Xbox, PS, Switch). I don’t _need_ a Steam Controller, and I doubt I’ll use it to its full extent, but I ultimately wanted to tell Valve that there’s demand for their hardware.

Not like they needed _me_ specifically for that, considering they sold out in an hour… but I didn’t know that until it happened

Ditto.

Same here

They’ll be a thing for awhile.

They're releasing it as part of a whole lineup that isn't fully out yet, so you've got plenty of time


You must be living pretty good if this day is the worse.

I liked the original as a concept, but the implementation left me wanting. The Steam Deck is really the best of both worlds, and I’m glad that they’ve basically ported that same design directly into a controller.

I am jealous of you mr fuckwit mcbumcrumble.

It does put it into gamepad mode, but that doesn't make it act as a normal xinput device.

I found a (kinda funky) program called SISR which forces steam to think it's always in a game and make it act like a normal joystick. It kinda breaks windows a bit, but at least it works and a reboot fixes windows.

I sure hope it works that way. Because I have a few non steam games I play often and I hate unnecessarily launching stuff through steam. I guess I'll find out in 6-10 days.

On the Steam Deck you can switch to a pure gamepad mode by holding down the start button. They first implemented that with Steam running and later added it to the Linux driver so that it works even when Steam isn't running.

I would be very surprised if they don't do the same with the Steam Controller.

I definitely don't go into it as far as a lot of people do, but some customizations are too nice to ignore. The original Vive (basically Valve hardware in all but name) had a mod that swapped the straps for welding mask supports and added off-ear speakers much like the Index later got. That was absolutely a massive upgrade.

And third party accessories are already created too, such as a stand for the controller acting as a dock. It's the only one I have seen, so that's why I mentioned it. And thanks to the replaceable parts, this will make it even easier for DIY people. I'm not much of hardware customization, but it's always fascinating to see what others do.

Yeah, I'm not too worried in general. Valve devices tend to have pretty vibrant DIY communities grow up around them, both on the software and hardware side. I'm looking forward to seeing what 3D printed accessories exist in a few months myself.

Good thing is, I don't care about Android. I saw some user drivers too and they will most likely add support for the new controller. Maybe I use it, maybe not. At least I still have my regular gamepad and will just leave both connected. Guess there are worse problems to have. :D

In that case, definitely check out SISR if you want that functionality in Linux or Windows. It mentions emulators in particular as a use case. Unfortunately, I can't find anything like it for Android which I saw you mention in another comment.

That is what I know so far too. I think the original Steam Controller (I have one too) acted the same. Didn't use it for long time. And no, my hope was I could use the controller without Steam in the background too. In example whenever I want to use an emulator like Yuzu or a set of emulators with RetroArch, I would also need to launch Steam in the background. And having Steam AND RetroArch at the same time is troublesome for my non Steam controller, as they get in conflict and I have to close Steam in example.

So that was a longer way of saying, no, I am not alright to run Steam in the background for stuff I am not playing in Steam.

You have to actually launch the game through steam for it to work as a controller. It's actually worse than the OG controller since I'm pretty sure the left stick and face buttons still acted as normal xinput devices.

I think someone will cook up a driver sooner or later then

No it doesn't. You must use steam input for it to be anything more than a mouse per the GN review.

Are you sure about that? There are people testing the Bluetooth connection on Android if I remember right, it would only act as mouse and keyboard device. On desktop I don't know if anyone tested Bluetooth, but using the Dongle it only acts as mouse and keyboard device, until Steam launched.

But in general, I always ignore Bluetooth and only use 2.4ghz dongles (or similar). I'm not getting into this argumentation over or against Bluetooth, so please spare me that (since decades). But I'm curious how it acts with Bluetooth, without starting Steam.

Are you alright with Steam running in the background? As far as I know, that's all that's really needed to get the full functionality outside of Steam for most uses. It'll just be using whatever you have set up as your desktop profile. For other things, programs like SISR already exist too.

I’m pretty sure it’ll still work without Steam, you just might not have all the bells and whistles. But according to the site, it can connect to anything with Bluetooth.

No controller should be proprietary to one launcher on PC. This is classic valve being platform exclusive dicks.

The store page said 3-5 business days for the early orders and 6-10 for the later orders.

Well yeah, there are only like two gamers in the EU. I’m talking about America, the center of the universe 🦅

(Just kidding, I’m glad yall seem to have more stock/lower demand)

Oh, got it. Somebody gave me the tip to preload my Steam wallet, so that made it smooth sailing for me.

To add to cart yes. But Most people’s complaints were during the payment part, it kept erroring out.

Yep Valve opened the sales a couple mins early so I had my order complete already when 10 AM PST rolled over. They seemed pretty reliably available for at least 30 mins after that, at least whenever I refreshed.

From what I heard its better than OG but not as good as mechanical

Yep, Steam Wallet here too. I definitely hit Continue at least 100 times before it processed.

RIP, there really should be a less shitty way to buy stuff like this

FWIW, I was getting the same checkout error as everyone else for half an hour while trying to buy with steam wallet credit.

I'm stuck on that screen as well even though I had added the money to my account last week already. It's not (only) their processor.

I am disproportionately angry about this for some reason. This has happened with several concerts I wanted to see, too. "Oh, you want tickets to an even marginally popular artist? Fuck you." Then factor in how fucking expensive computer parts have become since all the AI shit a while back. I'm just so goddamn tired.

At least my beloved Pebble watch was resurrected.

Did you get the “There seems to have been an error initializing or updating your transaction.” Error? Just spam continue on that screen. Don’t bother changing payment methods, it’s their processor that’s dying.

Same here. I was through the sequence and trying to buy by no later than maybe 1:00:10, and tried three different payment methods, all to no avail. I don't think we had a chance on this go-round.

The apparent issue is the payment processor (visa/etc) getting overloaded. To avoid it in the future it sounds like you can preload your steam account with the funds (~$108usd where I live due to 8% tax), which will let you bypass the worst of the checkout errors.

Never mind I'm seeing out of stock now

Even if I complete the transaction, a message pops up that says “Your order cannot be completed as the item is out of stock”

Honestly new it was gonna be a little hot but not 30 minutes in and we're done hot. Like wtf. I thought most would.still prefer Xbox controllers or something.

I wasn't waiting another 6 months with my necrotic Xbone controller. I already waited nearly a year for this. Hate to be that guy but this was the time I was waiting for.

It's incredible how they had almost 0 scalper protections in place here. Like I think the Deck required a 30 day old account at launch?

Yeah but its different when scalpers can buy 100 with the click of a button.

The OG Deck preorder was this exact same nightmare. Payment processors crashing out, availability flickering on and off, chaos. They've learned nothing.

The only thing here is exactly the thing we're here for lol.

Same, eventually got one. Though now it seems the OOS is here to stay. RIP. Truly feel for everyone who wanted one and didnt get one. I myself have a 90% obliterated Xbox controller I have been performing necromancy on to last until now.

Nah, hugged nearly to death in a minute, but my order went through at xx:31. But I think I was pretty near the end before they went OOS.

Edit: in the US, sounds like the EU might have lasted a bit longer?

I got mine at exactly 30 minutes after so it lasted a lot longer than I thought. Took me like 700 times pressing that damn continue button.

Somebody on reddit posted a screenshot saying their reservation servers are overloaded. Since they're the ones handling the queue of incoming orders and tracking that orders don't exceed stock (atomic database stuff, etc) that's absolutely going to get in the way of submitting orders.

Can't get to the order confirmation page if the server designated to gatekeep orders won't respond

I wasn’t able to place the order using PayPal, got an instant error (from Steam) every time. Then I tried with card and it went through without an issue.

My hope is that the payment processor died because of demand, so they marked it as out of stock to try to work through the queue

Edit: this seems to be the case. See my other reply

Sounds like my earlier theory was right, they’re using the “out of stock” as a way to limit orders. I finally got my order to go through at about 11:10 PDT.

What a time to be alive. Console? Sure. New phone? Sometimes. A *CONTROLLER*? Wild.

This is just the nature of buying things that are in high demand. It's been this way my whole life. People used to literally camp out in front of best buy.

Sounds more like gone in a minute

Scalpers know the brands. They might have missed the OG steam deck, but I promise the oled and now this are max scalp.

Besides, it's just a controller in a sea of amazing not-MS not-Sony controllers. The only real exclusive here is the dual trackpads.

Not like it won't be available in 6 months - just gotta have patience.

Im fine using my Xbox controllers until hype dies down

Buying shit in 2026 fucking sucks. Out in 30 minutes? I am so pissed.

It went on sale at 1:00 in my time zone. I had it in my cart at 1:00 and was trying to checkout before it ever hit 1:01, but all I got were errors when trying to continue to payment. Then out of stock. What a bunch of fucking bullshit. Like seriously, what the fuck else was I even supposed to do?

I’ll wait for the OLED version to drop to buy one /s

For real tho clear smoke plastic body with the orange accents would be pretty sick.

Shoot I must've barely got it then. Personally I was selfishly DOS-attacking the continue button until the payment finally went through. I was clicking from about :05 to :25, probably several hundred times.

I knew this was going to happen so I went in early.

Payment Method: Visa ending with XX

Purchased: May 4 @ 7:58pm

hoping to get a lot of use from the trackpads

got one into my cart but cant pay because its back out of stock

edit: fuck you of the year:

!1000028840

I’ve had it on my wishlist for a long time. Did not get an email saying they’re even available.

Impatiently waiting because I was sick and asleep 🙋 I managed to get it into my cart and see the error message about a hundred times before they went out of stock

My Xbox controller is unusable over Bluetooth and the ps5 controller’s triangle button doesn’t work so I was really looking forward to it

I just snag one.

Man I had a hard time battling with myself. On one side, I really want one and was waiting years for this even before the Steam Deck was on the market. On the other hand, my limit was 90 Euros (taxes included). And worse than that, it only functions with Steam. Yes, duh you say, its in the name, the Steam Controller. My hope was I could use it as a replacement for my controller acting as a regular gamepad without all the bells and whistles, playing emulators without Steam too. Looks like my that is not gonna happen anytime soon.

Got mine 3 minutes before the hour. I was smashing that F5 button like I was Brock Lesnar in a squash match. My friend also got one same time, although he had the error screen a few times before it went through.

Good luck on the next releases of the machine and frame, gents 🫡

Well, anyone who managed to get one, lemme know how the d-pad is on it. Is it better than the OG Steam Deck D-pad or the OLED D-pad? I changed my OLED d-pad to mechanical buttons, and it's felt much more accurate for 2d platformers and fighters.

I'm hoping they do like the Steam Deck and let us get a spot in line. It took a few months for me to be able to buy a Deck.

I got one, took about 11 min of trying before the card would process. During that time I would try 2x every 30 sec to 1 min.

Store was seemingly working fine, just payment processors being overloaded as far as I could tell.

Whelp, hoping to get in on the next batch. Wondering how long it will take to come back in stock.

For those that did snag one, did they share what the shipping timeline looks like?

I managed to get one right before it was supposed to be available. I'll decide if I want to get more later.

Am I the only one who doesn't really want one? I mean, I'd try it, sure, but like.. eh?

And I do like some controller games, I have a handful of 8bitdo controllers.

Damn, I've seen a few of threads about this and it's making me feel a little guilty that I managed to order one without really trying hard for it.

I won't have enough money to order one for another 2 or 3 weeks at least, potentially 2 months from now. Any idea if they'll have them at that point, or is this a limited time thing? I'm not the most up to date with these things, but I have decided I want one for when I dock the deck

I'm in the "I still have the original, but will probably buy one"

It went out of stock multiple times but after spamming checkout for 40 minutes it finally went through at 1:09PM CST.

Got an order in!

Saw it went live at 0958 PST was able to get in and out with no issues. In about 10 secs

I was able to order two in Canada. Looks like they are sold out now too.

Looks to be still in stock in the EU?

I got one. Had to click "Continue" about 100 times to checkout. Took over 30 minutes. And I had the required funds in my Steam Wallet.

I didn't even get an email to tell me it was available, they were gone that quick.

I'll pick one up in the next batch.

I'm still able to add to cart on the mobile app

Does it pair directly to the steam deck? Without the puck?

This is the worst day of my life