Valve have given out updated numbers for their Steam Controller and they expect to sell 1 million by early 2017. They are also planning to allow configuration of other gamepads, with the PS4's Dualshock 4 coming first. Thanks to Lars Doucet's post on Gamasutra. That post is well worth a read due to Lars explaining in much greater detail, I will include some big points below.
Doing the Steam Controller talks were Jeff Bellinghausen (Valve) & Lars Doucet (Level Up Labs).
First up, we have a handy timeline of how the device has progressed:
Sometime this month there will be a Steam client update to allow the configuration of other gamepads.
So they have on average about 27 thousand daily unique players using the Steam Controller, which is pretty impressive. More impressive is just how popular their Steam Controller actually is in terms of sales.
I do wonder if Valve thought it would be as popular as it is? They probably knew it would gain a following, but for a gamepad I personally think those sales numbers are damn good. Especially considering its unique and unorthodox design in comparison to nearly every other gamepad.
Valve actually have some guidelines for listing full controller support:
- You need to show Steam Controller glyphs
- Your config screen needs to focus on actions, not inputs
- You need to publish an official configuration (ie input bindings)
- You must allow full customization of your inputs
- You need to use the steam software keyboard overlay for text input when the player is in gamepad mode
- You shouldn't have to configure inputs in an external launcher, ideally it should launch straight into big picture mode ready to go
I hope developers stick to this, and I hope those who don't have their feature list adjusted if they do not.
Also exciting is that Steam will be getting an update to allow the configuration of more types of gamepads. They will apparently start with the Dualshock 4 (the Playstation 4 gamepad), as pictured above.
Lars also released a pack of free Steam Controller pictures to use in your games, available here.
Still, it would be nice if Valve would fix the issue of the Steam Controller no longer working as a mouse and keyboard unless Steam is specifically open when wireless. Originally, it would work right away on boot-up (even at the Grub boot screen), but now it won't work when wireless unless Steam is open. It's not an issue when plugged in via USB, so something broke the wireless side of that for it after an update at somepoint.
I have two Steam Controllers, and I do think they are really great. It's still an issue of getting used to not having a stick, as plenty of games still aren't designed with a pad in mind and have terrible default configs. Any time I come across this I let the developer know, and a few have actually updated their default config at my request. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Doing the Steam Controller talks were Jeff Bellinghausen (Valve) & Lars Doucet (Level Up Labs).
First up, we have a handy timeline of how the device has progressed:
Sometime this month there will be a Steam client update to allow the configuration of other gamepads.
So they have on average about 27 thousand daily unique players using the Steam Controller, which is pretty impressive. More impressive is just how popular their Steam Controller actually is in terms of sales.
I do wonder if Valve thought it would be as popular as it is? They probably knew it would gain a following, but for a gamepad I personally think those sales numbers are damn good. Especially considering its unique and unorthodox design in comparison to nearly every other gamepad.
Valve actually have some guidelines for listing full controller support:
- You need to show Steam Controller glyphs
- Your config screen needs to focus on actions, not inputs
- You need to publish an official configuration (ie input bindings)
- You must allow full customization of your inputs
- You need to use the steam software keyboard overlay for text input when the player is in gamepad mode
- You shouldn't have to configure inputs in an external launcher, ideally it should launch straight into big picture mode ready to go
I hope developers stick to this, and I hope those who don't have their feature list adjusted if they do not.
Also exciting is that Steam will be getting an update to allow the configuration of more types of gamepads. They will apparently start with the Dualshock 4 (the Playstation 4 gamepad), as pictured above.
Lars also released a pack of free Steam Controller pictures to use in your games, available here.
Still, it would be nice if Valve would fix the issue of the Steam Controller no longer working as a mouse and keyboard unless Steam is specifically open when wireless. Originally, it would work right away on boot-up (even at the Grub boot screen), but now it won't work when wireless unless Steam is open. It's not an issue when plugged in via USB, so something broke the wireless side of that for it after an update at somepoint.
I have two Steam Controllers, and I do think they are really great. It's still an issue of getting used to not having a stick, as plenty of games still aren't designed with a pad in mind and have terrible default configs. Any time I come across this I let the developer know, and a few have actually updated their default config at my request. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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madmachinations Oct 12, 2016
I really wish they'd make it work properly when you're trying to play local coop and have more than 1 steam controller plugged in.
It sort of works but lately it keeps freaking out and closing the game to ask which bindings to use over and over.
And it still has no support for other local players earning their own achievements even though the controller has been bound to their specific steam account.
It sort of works but lately it keeps freaking out and closing the game to ask which bindings to use over and over.
And it still has no support for other local players earning their own achievements even though the controller has been bound to their specific steam account.
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Quoting: madmachinationsAnd it still has no support for other local players earning their own achievements even though the controller has been bound to their specific steam account.Yeah, that's a major difference between how Steam/SteamOS and traditional consoles work. I imagine there's a lot of back-end work that needs to be done to allow such things.
Like with everything Valve, it's a slow but steady progress. Allow people to use their own accounts bindings when turning on a controller for co-op was a first good step.
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QuoteI hope developers stick to this, and I hope those who don't have their feature list adjusted if they do not.Actually I doubt most will as exactly their special API stuff *heavily* sucks for any dev that does not want to *only* support the Steam Controller (or in future the pads supported by Steam's API) as you basically have to implement two completely different sets of input support (e.g. kbd/mouse/controllers vs Steam Input). That's not good for any code design at all :(
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Note: Adjusted the headline as it wasn't right, the text however was. Valve expect to sell 1M by early 2017, not in early 2017. Sorry for any confusion.
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Crystal Dagger Oct 12, 2016
Awesome. Those numbers are way higher than I expected... Although I wonder which games have higher rates of people playing them with a controller, like... CS:GO has full controller support but I can't imagine someone playing it without a mouse and a keyboard unless you have been playing shooters with a pad for ages.
It would be really cool to see a valve keypad for gaming, like the ones from razer/logitech, specially because there are no "out of the box" native drivers for those, although some people have created great projects that make them able to use under Linux it would be great to have one that works straight away. But that's just my humble opinion.
Last edited by Crystal Dagger on 12 October 2016 at 11:47 pm UTC
It would be really cool to see a valve keypad for gaming, like the ones from razer/logitech, specially because there are no "out of the box" native drivers for those, although some people have created great projects that make them able to use under Linux it would be great to have one that works straight away. But that's just my humble opinion.
Last edited by Crystal Dagger on 12 October 2016 at 11:47 pm UTC
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orochi_kyo Oct 13, 2016
Way too hard to get this controller outside the U.S. Even if you get it, it will cost the double it cost on the Steam store.
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I love input devices, so I preordered the Steam Controller based on its novelty. Right now it is gathering dust, and my time is spent with the Playstation 3/4 controllers, and I also want a SNES gamepad.
My main issue with the Steam Controller is that it is very noisy - I can't ignore the plastic clicking sounds practically all buttons/triggers make, even with headphones on. It's not that it feels cheap, it is just way too loud for me.
I also have a problem with the face buttons, they are spaced the close to each other IMO. I don't have large hands, and I still press the wrong button or multiple buttons more times than I like. Using the touchpad as a D-pad is a no go, again because of the noise but it also doesn't feel as precise. Another thing I find disappointing is that the controller is so tied to the Steam client, and especially Big Picture mode. I hoped it would be a more general purpose controller and that Valve would contribute the driver to the Linux kernel or something. I know there's the sc-controller project (haven't checked it out yet, because of the issues above), but ideally this should come from Valve day one I think. Lastly the controller mapping experience is not super great right now.
Unfortunately mostly negative experiences for me, but I sincerely applaud Valve for their innovative ideas and risk-taking in making this controller, and I look forward to future iterations of the Steam Controller.
My main issue with the Steam Controller is that it is very noisy - I can't ignore the plastic clicking sounds practically all buttons/triggers make, even with headphones on. It's not that it feels cheap, it is just way too loud for me.
I also have a problem with the face buttons, they are spaced the close to each other IMO. I don't have large hands, and I still press the wrong button or multiple buttons more times than I like. Using the touchpad as a D-pad is a no go, again because of the noise but it also doesn't feel as precise. Another thing I find disappointing is that the controller is so tied to the Steam client, and especially Big Picture mode. I hoped it would be a more general purpose controller and that Valve would contribute the driver to the Linux kernel or something. I know there's the sc-controller project (haven't checked it out yet, because of the issues above), but ideally this should come from Valve day one I think. Lastly the controller mapping experience is not super great right now.
Unfortunately mostly negative experiences for me, but I sincerely applaud Valve for their innovative ideas and risk-taking in making this controller, and I look forward to future iterations of the Steam Controller.
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boltronics Oct 13, 2016
Imagine how many they would sell if they were sold outside of a few select countries. I gave up waiting for them to come to Australia so long ago, I'm just not that interested in it anymore.
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Quoting: numasanI love input devices, so I preordered the Steam Controller based on its novelty. Right now it is gathering dust, and my time is spent with the Playstation 3/4 controllers, and I also want a SNES gamepad.
My main issue with the Steam Controller is that it is very noisy - I can't ignore the plastic clicking sounds practically all buttons/triggers make, even with headphones on. It's not that it feels cheap, it is just way too loud for me.
I also have a problem with the face buttons, they are spaced the close to each other IMO. I don't have large hands, and I still press the wrong button or multiple buttons more times than I like. Using the touchpad as a D-pad is a no go, again because of the noise but it also doesn't feel as precise. Another thing I find disappointing is that the controller is so tied to the Steam client, and especially Big Picture mode. I hoped it would be a more general purpose controller and that Valve would contribute the driver to the Linux kernel or something. I know there's the sc-controller project (haven't checked it out yet, because of the issues above), but ideally this should come from Valve day one I think. Lastly the controller mapping experience is not super great right now.
Unfortunately mostly negative experiences for me, but I sincerely applaud Valve for their innovative ideas and risk-taking in making this controller, and I look forward to future iterations of the Steam Controller.
My Steam Controller is also eating the dust with almost the same reasons as you mentioned. I really need a dualstick controller I cant get used to the steam controller interface.
I am using now the Logitech wireless gamepad F710 but I was thinking to get a ps3 controller.
I didnt know that ps4 controllers were working fine as well on Linux. Hmmm... I maybe get a ps4 controller then.
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I've waited forever for them to release it in Japan. No luck so far; maybe I'll just buy it on Amazon or something. I've never really used controllers (always used trackball and keyboard so far) so I may not have the same trouble getting used to it as some other people seem to have.
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no_information_here Oct 13, 2016
I have had the Steam Controller for about 6 months, now. I really really like it. However, I do have a few criticisms:
1) I love the right touchpad for First Person games. I am not a competitive player, however I have extensively used KB&M, XBox Original, Xbox360, PS2, PS3 controllers. The SC manages to hit the sweet spot for games like Borderlands, Bioshock Infinite, Talos, Portal, etc. The gyro is awesome for fine tuning your aim.
2) I hate the left touchpad. I wish I had a Dpad instead. I have found absolutely nothing that the left touchpad is useful for. I like metroidvania and adventure platformers and, unless there is good analog movement that makes the stick worthwhile (like Hyperlight Drifter), I really wish for the precision of a proper Dpad.
3) I love the back grip triggers under the controller. Having a way to jump, etc. without having to reach for a face button is awesome. However, they feel a little flimsy the way they are integrated into the battery cover. Still good, but they could have a more precise feeling.
4) I absolutely despise the haptic feedback. I was willing to give it a try, but (at least on my SC), it is just a horribly annoying buzzing sound/feeling. I wouldn't mind turning it off except you have to do it in EVERY GAME for EVERY SINGLE BUTTON. And the setting is at least 2 menu levels deep for each button. Can you tell that I am annoyed? I would love a universal setting to disable haptic forever (that doesn't involve opening the SC and cutting wires).
5) The setup screens are powerful, but very cluttered. I can live with it, but it doesn't really feel optimized.
6) The Face buttons are a bit small and the position a bit strange coming from a X360 controller, but nothing that I couldn't get used to. The rest of the buttons seem fine (after I turn haptic off for my triggers). Ergonomics seem fine to me. I am a medium sized guy with hands on the smaller side of medium.
7) I have seen what valve did with the controller settings in Portal 2. Like this, it looks like they are encouraging devs to plug into their steam bigpicture controller setup for all their controllers. That might work, but I want a guarantee that devs can use it outside of steam. Can a dev use the steam controller setup tools for their GOG game? I would hate to be locked-in. Knowing that Valve tends toward being open, I really hope this works out ok.
In summary:
Give me a DPad.
Give me a universal haptic off button.
Make the grip buttons more positive.
Don't lock us in.
Other than that, it is my most used game device now...
1) I love the right touchpad for First Person games. I am not a competitive player, however I have extensively used KB&M, XBox Original, Xbox360, PS2, PS3 controllers. The SC manages to hit the sweet spot for games like Borderlands, Bioshock Infinite, Talos, Portal, etc. The gyro is awesome for fine tuning your aim.
2) I hate the left touchpad. I wish I had a Dpad instead. I have found absolutely nothing that the left touchpad is useful for. I like metroidvania and adventure platformers and, unless there is good analog movement that makes the stick worthwhile (like Hyperlight Drifter), I really wish for the precision of a proper Dpad.
3) I love the back grip triggers under the controller. Having a way to jump, etc. without having to reach for a face button is awesome. However, they feel a little flimsy the way they are integrated into the battery cover. Still good, but they could have a more precise feeling.
4) I absolutely despise the haptic feedback. I was willing to give it a try, but (at least on my SC), it is just a horribly annoying buzzing sound/feeling. I wouldn't mind turning it off except you have to do it in EVERY GAME for EVERY SINGLE BUTTON. And the setting is at least 2 menu levels deep for each button. Can you tell that I am annoyed? I would love a universal setting to disable haptic forever (that doesn't involve opening the SC and cutting wires).
5) The setup screens are powerful, but very cluttered. I can live with it, but it doesn't really feel optimized.
6) The Face buttons are a bit small and the position a bit strange coming from a X360 controller, but nothing that I couldn't get used to. The rest of the buttons seem fine (after I turn haptic off for my triggers). Ergonomics seem fine to me. I am a medium sized guy with hands on the smaller side of medium.
7) I have seen what valve did with the controller settings in Portal 2. Like this, it looks like they are encouraging devs to plug into their steam bigpicture controller setup for all their controllers. That might work, but I want a guarantee that devs can use it outside of steam. Can a dev use the steam controller setup tools for their GOG game? I would hate to be locked-in. Knowing that Valve tends toward being open, I really hope this works out ok.
In summary:
Give me a DPad.
Give me a universal haptic off button.
Make the grip buttons more positive.
Don't lock us in.
Other than that, it is my most used game device now...
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ElectricPrism Oct 13, 2016
Quoting: orochikyoWay too hard to get this controller outside the U.S. Even if you get it, it will cost the double it cost on the Steam store.
I can drive 5 miles and buy them, shit I should fucking package that shit up and mail it to my Linux bretherin. Connections++.
I've owned a Steam Controller and I hate it. My brother loves his though I was heavy into Xbox 360 FPS in the past.
I tried binding the look to the joystick and the move to the touchpad today in CS:GO and it broke my brain doing inverted like that.
I then stretched my right hand over to the thumbstick for look and used the left D-Pad as the Left Joystick -- I'm in pain!
I have a PS4 controller before me but the joysticks seem like the circle circumference isn't large enough to quickly zoom in on specific shooting locations.
I have 3 X360 controllers and the joysticks are amazing but it uses a RF receiver which annoys me.
XBONE Controller bumpers break really easy and are tacky and the 4 face buttons look tacky not being a solid color and the asymetrical nature of X360 and XBONE make it look wrong.
So far the only drill down I'm left with is the XBONE-S Controller with Bluetooth or SteelSeries.
I actually looked up videos moments ago as I was thinking of modding my controller and swapping the ABXY and Thumbstick but I don't think I'll be able to circuitry mod it without some in depth planning :(
Meanwhile the haptic feedback is useless and as akin to a soft vibration to let me know my thumb has reached the edge of the virtual joystick zone on the joystick.
Those trackpads are connected via ribbon though so maybe it would be possible to mount a new joystick on the right one.
The Steam Controller feels like it was meant to exist without the ABXY and thumbstick when you hold it, when you try to use those features it feels like a XBOX controller with a Steam Headcrab on top of it making the controller bigger, it's so difficult to find a comfortable way to hold it.
Last edited by ElectricPrism on 13 October 2016 at 6:33 am UTC
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Valve is not evil. Like Google. ;)
Seriously: Even if they create fascinating products the business practices of Microsoft, Sony and Co. simply do not fit into the 21st century. Valve understood that. Everyone should use their favorite controller. People do not want to be dictated in what way they have to play. Valve overcome its own fear one more time by opening Steam for other controllers.
Seriously: Even if they create fascinating products the business practices of Microsoft, Sony and Co. simply do not fit into the 21st century. Valve understood that. Everyone should use their favorite controller. People do not want to be dictated in what way they have to play. Valve overcome its own fear one more time by opening Steam for other controllers.
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[quote=ElectricPrism]
I never understand why I'm needing two Joysticks. SEGA Dreamcast had only one. For me, a second joystick is like a second thumb on the hand. Fast and precise movements I find with the joystick difficult to execute. With SteamController I use mostly the gyro control and the movement sensor for this. For normal camera movements the right pad works excellent. It behaves like the trackpad of a laptop.
It is fun with story-bound console games like TombRaider, Alien: Isolation or Bioshock: Infinite when you playing on TV. Games like Rocket League are just cool with the steam controller. But for every game I have to try at least an hour before I have found a suitable configuration. But that is also fun for me. :)
Hardcore FPS like CS:GO I would always play with Mouse and Keyboard sitting on my desk. I would not want to play it with the SteamController or any other controller. You will always lose. That's crap.
Of course only my personal opinion.
Quoting: orochikyoI then stretched my right hand over to the thumbstick for look and used the left D-Pad as the Left Joystick -- I'm in pain!
I never understand why I'm needing two Joysticks. SEGA Dreamcast had only one. For me, a second joystick is like a second thumb on the hand. Fast and precise movements I find with the joystick difficult to execute. With SteamController I use mostly the gyro control and the movement sensor for this. For normal camera movements the right pad works excellent. It behaves like the trackpad of a laptop.
It is fun with story-bound console games like TombRaider, Alien: Isolation or Bioshock: Infinite when you playing on TV. Games like Rocket League are just cool with the steam controller. But for every game I have to try at least an hour before I have found a suitable configuration. But that is also fun for me. :)
Hardcore FPS like CS:GO I would always play with Mouse and Keyboard sitting on my desk. I would not want to play it with the SteamController or any other controller. You will always lose. That's crap.
Of course only my personal opinion.
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1mHfoksd1Z Oct 13, 2016
Quoting: orochikyoWay too hard to get this controller outside the U.S. Even if you get it, it will cost the double it cost on the Steam store.
I agree. I'm from Romania and I had to wait for a 30% off promotion to get it, because of the high transport cost. The final price (including the transport), was EXACTLY the same as the full price without the promotion.
It's also the base price difference which is a huge problem... 55€ vs 50$ when 50$ = 45,37€ (at today's rate)
So yeah, you do get the controller for double the price that a US citizen pays... One might even go as far as to call it discrimination. The transportation price is understandable but the base price...
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Quoting: HoriIt's also the base price difference which is a huge problem... 55€ vs 50$ when 50$ = 45,37€ (at today's rate)
Don't forget that dollar prices generally don't include VAT, while Euro prices must include VAT (typically around 20%).
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Quoting: Crystal Dagger[...] keypad for gaming, like the ones from razer/logitech, specially because there are no "out of the box" native drivers for those [...]The Roccat Nyth mouse will get you halfway there! It has 12 modular side buttons and roughly 3 extra on the top, all configurable through the fantastic Linux driver, which is an open source project by Stefan Achatz officially supported and assisted by Roccat. I highly recommend it!
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Quoting: 0aTTHardcore FPS like CS:GO I would always play with Mouse and Keyboard sitting on my desk. I would not want to play it with the SteamController or any other controller. You will always lose. That's crap.
You're of course right, that I have seen a guy using the Steam Controller for aiming arrows in Shadow of Mordor and, man, he was quick and precise. I don't know if there is a lot of auto aiming involved, but it was really impressive.
So while pro-levels of CS:GO are not achievable, many of us might not notice a difference.
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I have a question: for some games that do not works well with my xbox 360 controller i use Antimicro to assign keyboard buttons to my xbox 360 controls, so with this update i (we) could configure the same thing on Steam without launching a 3rd party software? And, like the Steam controller, every game has it's own saved settings and you won't need to switch presets manually?
That would be so amazing...
That would be so amazing...
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The gamepad worked kind of fine when my laptop was running Ubuntu 14.04. Since then I've distro-hopped a few times and could never get the gamepad to work as well. Even on Ubuntu it didn't work all that great even with the community control schemes. On other distros I couldn't even get the Steam Client in Big Picture Mode to even recognize that the controller is plugged in to delete my account settings on it, even though it obviously worked to navigate BPM. I had to sell it because it wasn't what I had hoped. I'd rather not give money to Microsoft for an Xbox One controller, so if I want a gamepad that would work on almost every supported game I'll probably have to buy it used from GameStop or somewhere.
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