Valve are yet again hitting the spotlight for the wrong reasons following the ruling from the EU Commission over geo-blocking, a lawsuit involving game pricing and now the Steam Controller too.
The lawsuit involved Ironburg Inventions (a subsidiary of Corsair Gaming), who have a patent for a game controller that has back paddles and they've held the patent since 2014. According to the press release, Valve lost the case and so "the jury unanimously found that Valve Corp infringed Ironburg’s 8,641,525 controller patent and awarded Ironburg over $4 million" additionally Valve were apparently aware of it and so the infringement was "willful". Due to this, there's a potential for "enhanced damages up to the statutory limit of treble damages" so the $4 million figure is only the beginning.
Any company that wishes to have back paddles, are then required to license the tech from Ironburg Inventions Ltd which is exactly what Microsoft does for their special Xbox Elite Controller.
The Steam Controller (sadly) was discontinued back in 2019. It was my favourite controller, and I still hope they bring out a proper second generation. Perhaps this was a big supporting reason for why they no longer continued with it? Probably not though, since they're now into VR hardware instead where there's likely a lot more monies.
If they do a second generation, perhaps they will be a little bit more careful with licensing next time and I will still happily be first in line if they do another.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Quoting: BeamboomThere's just something about a physical stick that can't be replaced with a touchpad.
My thoughts as well. The touchpad can be nice for a casual game, but trying to move or turn with it quickly and accurately in an intense boss fight (say for example Dark Souls 3, or Hellpoint) is impossible.
Mohandevir Feb 3, 2021
Quoting: wytrabbitQuoting: BeamboomThere's just something about a physical stick that can't be replaced with a touchpad.
My thoughts as well. The touchpad can be nice for a casual game, but trying to move or turn with it quickly and accurately in an intense boss fight (say for example Dark Souls 3, or Hellpoint) is impossible.
True enough, as much as playing a PC shooter with a stick is a subpar experience. I played all my shooters with the Steam Controller trackpad and Gyro. Best experience ever. The closest to K+M you can get.
Darksouls games are edge cases though. For other 3rd person games, it doesn't really matter (Witcher 3, Shadow of Mordor, Mad Max, Tomb Raider, etc...). It comes to personnal preferences... I often switch from stick to trackpad, depending on my mood at that moment.
Last edited by Mohandevir on 3 February 2021 at 2:32 pm UTC
Massinissa Feb 3, 2021
Quoting: JuliusAnd the back-paddle buttons are probably the most useless part of the Steam controller anyways...
The back-paddle is the only reason I bought the steam controller, I went from bronze to diamond on Rocket League with these buttons ahah. But I'm too poor to buy the xbox elite pro2 controller
rustybroomhandle Feb 3, 2021
slaapliedje Feb 3, 2021
Quoting: SeegrasPatent systems are very broken and need to be abolished.The patent system itself isn't broken. The people running the patent system are. There are legitimate reasons for a patent. 'buttons on the bottom of the controller using a paddle / grip' shouldn't be a legitimate one, as it's an obvious one.
For anyone interested, here's the book, where they show that in most fields (except chemistry/pharma), patents don't even work as they should according to the patent system itself. https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jep.27.1.3
Patents should be for things that are not obvious.
Side note, apparently that's why we don't have any modern joysticks with actual force feedback beyond a rumble, because of patents. But considering it was an API+hardware work, I feel it is more of a legit one. Problem is they charged too much for too long and the support within games was pretty low because of it, so it stopped being a thing.
Now when you're talking about patenting and IP and copyright for software, there definitely are things there that should be changed / adjusted because they are terrible. Should be some things about 'if something becomes no longer profitable, it should be archived and become open/free.' instead of copyright holding over things for 70+years...
slaapliedje Feb 3, 2021
Quoting: rustybroomhandle$4 million does not seem like a lot of money to even bother suing over. Are we sure this is not a desperate company in financial trouble with over-inflated stock value?Ha, like Gamestop?
slaapliedje Feb 3, 2021
Quoting: MassinissaI have a Thrustmaster eSwap Pro, and it took me a while to get used to NOT hitting those bottom buttons on it, though it also would help if I could remember which buttons mapped to the top buttons on that controller!Quoting: JuliusAnd the back-paddle buttons are probably the most useless part of the Steam controller anyways...
The back-paddle is the only reason I bought the steam controller, I went from bronze to diamond on Rocket League with these buttons ahah. But I'm too poor to buy the xbox elite pro2 controller
By the way, it's an excellent controller with one of the best D-Pads I've ever used!
Quoting: EhvisAnother demonstration of how broken the patent system is. There nothing in that patent that isn't entirely trivial. Basically "let's put a button where an unused finger rests". I'm surprised that Valve's lawyers didn't manage to get this thrown out because I highly doubt that this is original.
Totally agree. It doesn't make sense.
Anyways, I have 3 Steam controllers. They are awesome, I can even play some FPS games on it and the experience is good. I hope they will still support the controller with softwares like the one in the big picture mode and also I hope the SC controller app will be still maintained.
FutureSuture Feb 3, 2021
Quoting: MassinissaIt isn't worth it anyway.Quoting: JuliusAnd the back-paddle buttons are probably the most useless part of the Steam controller anyways...The back-paddle is the only reason I bought the steam controller, I went from bronze to diamond on Rocket League with these buttons ahah. But I'm too poor to buy the xbox elite pro2 controller
Massinissa Feb 3, 2021
Quoting: FutureSutureQuoting: MassinissaIt isn't worth it anyway.Quoting: JuliusAnd the back-paddle buttons are probably the most useless part of the Steam controller anyways...The back-paddle is the only reason I bought the steam controller, I went from bronze to diamond on Rocket League with these buttons ahah. But I'm too poor to buy the xbox elite pro2 controller
Damn, beaten by a 50€ controller who lasted me 2 years...
Patreon
PayPal
See more from me