Valve help developers into adding more controller support with new stats

I rarely use controllers.
I tried Valheim with controller, but I was not satisfied and went back to MK.

But some game are nice to play with controller, so having the freedom of choice is always good :-)


Last edited by einherjar on 24 February 2021 at 10:14 pm UTC

I rarely use controllers.
I tried Valheim with controller, but I was not satisfied and went back to MK.

But some game are nice to play with controller, so having the freedom of choice is always good :-)

I find myself wanting more controller enabled games, mostly because I sit for 10-14 hours a day typing away and wiggling a mouse doing work... I want to be able to lay way back in comfort with a controller in hand to play some games. (or in the case of VR, standing with controllers and punching the living shit out of enemies with the Index controllers).

What upsets me is that some developers just ignore the gamepad crowd, like, out of spite. Who thinks is a good idea to support a gamepad in the game, but not in the menus? Luckily that is disappearing, but 10 years ago it was not uncommon. To this day you, can still see games being launched with partial support for controllers.

I can see that supporting more than a type of input can be time consuming for a developer, since fine tuning controls is not a easy task, and it can make or break a game. For example, the other day a guy was complaining that the defaults of Cyber Shadow, a hardcore "Ninja Gaiden" lookalike, was annoying in the keyboard. I can totally see why the developer not even bothered too much with it, because he thought nobody is playing it seriously that way, but there are always someone.

In the end, lets not be That Guy® that thinks "if I do (like, want, despise, etc) it, everybody else does". Is not productive, and will leave you with a very narrow view of the world.

I use a PS4 controller for pretty much all games I play, including ones normally keyboard and mouse only (using qjoypad ).

Having grown up playing games on consoles, the availability of playing those same games on PC in a similar manner was key to transitioning not only myself but others to gaming on Linux.

IMHO, if I'm not using a controller, it's not as relaxing - which is one of the main reasons I game to begin with. Unwind before hitting the hay. All the naysayers can pry my controller from my cold dead hands :p

IMHO, if I'm not using a controller, it's not as relaxing - which is one of the main reasons I game to begin with. Unwind before hitting the hay. All the naysayers can pry my controller from my cold dead hands :p

Can't kick back on the couch with KB&M. Some games are better suited for KBM, like those of a classic/isometric RPG format, and some just "feels" better with KBM, but most "mainstream" games are more often than not made with a gamepad in mind (and thus have had their UI mangled to accomodate this).

This fall when I started playing Dragon Age Inquisition (works very well in Wine), I moved my desktop PC out into the living room, hooked it up to the 75" and surround, and have been playing it from the sofa with a DS4. GHaving gamedpads being as simple as Plug and Play is a must.

Too bad Steam Controllers are only 2%.

Too bad Steam Controllers are only 2%.

Yeah, sad. I kind of feel like I'm that 2%, as I have at least 3 of them :P

It's interesting that Sony is writing their own driver for 5.12 kernel for the DS5 controller. It'll also be interesting to see if people start utilizing the various new features for PC games.

100% though there are just simply games in existence that are better with a gamepad, or trackball, or joystick. Then there are those that are better with a keyboard / mouse. Some are even better when you use a directional pad vs analog stick.

Nowadays on Steam, if a game can support Steam Input it ends up getting access to a lot of hardware support. As Valve adds support for more, developers pretty much get it free with Steam Input.

Does this work only if the game is played on Steam? I mean, if one is to get a game that has Steam Input on GOG or Itch and play it without Steam client, will Steam Input still work or does it depend on the Steam client? Would be great if it's a stand alone library that can run on it's own.

Too bad Steam Controllers are only 2%.

Too bad Valve never really wanted to sell them to anyone. Just like the Steam Link. If they'd actually been easily available for purchase then they would have sold a ton. In Norway, you couldn't really get one outside of Ebay.


Last edited by Appelsin on 25 February 2021 at 1:02 am UTC

Too bad Steam Controllers are only 2%.

Too bad they are discontinued. We desperately need a second version.

The Steam Controller deserves to be wildly successful. Valve just seems pretty meh when they market hardware.

I tried Valheim with controller, but I was not satisfied and went back to MK.

For me, controller is a nice experience, except when you need to aim precisely with the bow. But I use the keyboard for fast accessing to menus, and I do use the mouse for sorting inventory (faster and less clunky than with a controller).

I find myself wanting more controller enabled games, mostly because I sit for 10-14 hours a day typing away and wiggling a mouse doing work... I want to be able to lay way back in comfort with a controller in hand to play some games. (or in the case of VR, standing with controllers and punching the living shit out of enemies with the Index controllers).

Same here, to the point that sometimes, I find playing with a controller more comfortable for the wrist, especially when you already spent hours with a mouse for work. I just got myself a vertical mouse to try to diminish the strain.

Too bad Valve never really wanted to sell them to anyone. Just like the Steam Link. If they'd actually been easily available for purchase then they would have sold a ton. In Norway, you couldn't really get one outside of Ebay.

I own a Steam Link, and to be fair, I tried it a few minutes, then it went back into its box. On a LAN, the input lag on Overcooked was very perceptible, making the game barely playable...

So Steam Controller 2%, much lower than what I expected.
Then again, the stats here are much better in this regard (27%:
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/render_chart.php?id=1010&type=stats
Interesting difference.

So Steam Controller 2%, much lower than what I expected.
Then again, the stats here are much better in this regard (27%:
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/render_chart.php?id=1010&type=stats
Interesting difference.

... But considering the fact that the "Other" category is 4%, it's not bad either. I didn't expect the Steam controller to be that much popular since there was only one iteration and it's been sold for quite a limited time compared to Steelseries, Razer, Logitech and many other controllers (which are in this "Other" category, I guess).

I might just have put on my rose tinted glasses here.


Last edited by Mohandevir on 25 February 2021 at 2:50 pm UTC

"back to Portal 2"

So I have no idea what game these stats are for

And I think Valve has edited the picture because on the announcements page linked in the article it says now "back to Super Fun Game"

I wonder if just having a controller plugged in makes it a "controller session"? I guess they were careful about that.

Seeing Steam promote its Input API is awesome! Some games are just horrible to play without that configuration panel. And some also have truly horrible keyboard support (Halo: MCC for instance), so having keyboard input go trough Steam input API could be a boon for these as well.

A shame we didn't get to see the Xbox 360/ Xbox One split, but I don't expect it to be much different from the one here.

Too bad Steam Controllers are only 2%.

Too bad they are discontinued. We desperately need a second version.

The Steam Controller deserves to be wildly successful. Valve just seems pretty meh when they market hardware.

Indeed. A second version with a better build quality is needed, and is probably all it takes to have the steam controllers take off, aside from better marketing that is. Seriously, why did Valve market these as keyboard/mouse replacement rather than simply a better controller with higher precision?

Too bad Steam Controllers are only 2%.

Too bad Valve never really wanted to sell them to anyone. Just like the Steam Link. If they'd actually been easily available for purchase then they would have sold a ton. In Norway, you couldn't really get one outside of Ebay.

I agree. Valve doesn't seem to be serious about selling hardware. I still remember the lame launch of the Steam Machines.

Holding out for Steam controller 2. Is there any hope for that to happen? Last I read was about patents but according to the post it was old and didn't indicate it was being developed.

I play ALL my games using my controllers and all of them work very well on Steam: Wii U Pro, Some Arcade Sticks I built and of course, the Steam Controller. I play even CSGO with the last one said and I can even kill some people and really enjoy the game using it. I have three of them and I hope Valve will keep supporting it for a long time.

Too bad Steam Controllers are only 2%.

Too bad Valve never really wanted to sell them to anyone. Just like the Steam Link. If they'd actually been easily available for purchase then they would have sold a ton. In Norway, you couldn't really get one outside of Ebay.

I got mine via US Amazon, and the shipping cost almost doubled the price compared to a DS4 in my neck of the woods. I can totally see why a bunch of people wanted one, but didn't get because the cost was too high to justify.