HORI announced a special gamepad for Steam / Steam Deck

HORI, a manufacturer of popular gaming accessories have today revealed the Wireless Horipad for Steam. So if you're in need of a gamepad, this might be for you.

The main thing that concerns me here for Linux and Steam Deck support, is their mention of a dedicated app for it. We've seen before from the likes of 8BitDo, that certain buttons on their controllers (like back paddles) require a dedicated app and so cannot be configured directly on Linux / Steam Deck.

In this case though, HORI do show a shot of Steam Input which has the back paddles listed on it, so perhaps we might see full Steam Input support for it. Considering it's a dedicated Steam controller, it would be odd if you couldn't adjust everything in Steam Input. They do also mention Steam Deck repeatedly too.

Features:

• Back paddles (L4/R4) and 2 extra custom buttons (M1/M2) right on the bottom.
• A dedicated Quick Access button.
• Support for Bluetooth, XInput and DirectInput, but seems XInput only via Wired connection.
• Estimated 12 hour battery life (3.5 hours to fully charge).
• Gyro in the "Steam mode". With the sticks having a touch sensor too.
• Rapid fire ability on face buttons (ABXY).

Their info mentions it does not have vibration though, or a microphone port.

So far, it seems to be only announced via their Japanese store with no mention on their USA or UK stores. Price according to their page is 9,780 Japanese Yen, so about £50 GBP / $60 USD.

Update: in a news post about Steam Input, Valve confirmed they have added support for the new HORIPAD for Steam and they "worked with HORI's team to make their controller work well with Steam Input".