is a senior reporter covering technology, gaming, and more. He joined The Verge in 2019 after nearly two years at Techmeme.
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One of the best parts of the Steam Deck is its many different controls, and how you can customize them to let you do whatever you want with every single one of your games. Now, Valve is bringing that same level of flexibility into a new gamepad. I recently got to try it at Valve’s headquarters, and it feels like the controller I’ve always wanted.
Today, Valve announced the second-generation Steam Controller. It’s a Bluetooth controller that works with any device that runs Steam, including Valve’s new Steam Machine PC and Steam Frame VR headset, and comes with a puck that serves as a low-latency wireless connector and doubles as a charging station. It will launch in early 2026 for a price that’s yet to be announced, though Valve is aiming to make the price competitive with other controllers with “advanced inputs,” according to hardware engineer Steve Cardinali.
The new controller up close. Photo by Everything Time Studio / The Verge
This is Valve’s second crack at building a Steam Controller. The first-generation model had two huge circular trackpads, only one joystick, and came in an unusual bulbous shape. It set out to give you mouse-grade pointing accuracy and a keyboard worth of customizable functions in the palms of your hands. Valve eventually discontinued the original model, but it never truly died; the company and devotees kept its configuration system alive as Steam Input, a system that now lets you configure your PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo controllers the same way.
Controller use has gone up dramatically on Steam, with a significant chunk of people using Steam Input. For example, some have changed their Steam Deck controls to bind Hollow Knight: Silksong’s downward attack, key in battle and to explore the world, onto a single button. Steam Deck buyers sometimes discover that decades-old mouse-and-keyboard games are instantly playable because some diehard Steam Controller enthusiast built a community controller profile years ago.
Valve’s second-generation Steam Controller (left) next to its first-generation Steam Controller. Photo by Everything Time Studio / The Verge
Valve’s second-generation Steam Controller is much closer to a traditional gamepad than the old version. Imagine somebody took a Steam Deck, lopped off the screen, and smashed the two ends together, and you’ve got the general idea: It has standard gamepad grips, an improved D-pad, four main face buttons, two triggers, two bumpers, four back buttons, and even two Steam Deck-like touchpads — now canted and rotated roughly 15 degrees inward to compensate for the difference in grip between gamepads and handhelds. I never liked the way the old Steam Controller sat in my hands, but this new one felt intuitive right away.
With the new controller, Valve is also the first to put magnetic, drift-resistant sticks into a first-party pad — beating Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo to the punch — after previously saying that they weren’t that important. Valve partnered with an unnamed vendor for the custom design, which uses TMR joysticks, though according to Cardinali, the design isn’t exclusive.
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