Hori is making an official Steam Controller. While Valve did have a controller back in the day, the company discontinued the device over five years ago following a limited launch. Hori has announced the Steam Controller which features your standard button layout but also some Steam design inspirations. The company only plans to launch the controller in Japan at first.
Hori is calling this device the Wireless Horipad For Steam. It is a PC controller that features Steam Deck’s menu buttons and similar touch sensors at the top of the unit. The sensors are used to activate the gyro controls.
The controller supports both UBS-C input and BlueTooth. When connected to the PC, users can then customize the controller using the Hori software. Here, you’ll be able to tweak the dead zones and remap the buttons. The only thing missing from the Wireless Horipad For Steam is rumble. For some reason, the company has left it out.
The Wireless Horipad For Steam will launch in Japan first on 31 October and ship in four colours. There’s black, white, neon yellow, and violet. The expected RRP is around $50. However, there’s no word of an exact plan for a launch outside of Japan yet. Given how popular Xbox Wireless Controllers and DualSense Controllers are for Steam, perhaps this device won’t even leave the country.
In recent stats, Valve says 59% of all gaming sessions on Steam are played using an Xbox Controller. 26% of sessions are played using a PlayStation Controller and 10% are players on Steam Decks.
The company is even adding new features to Steam to benefit controller support including a redesigned Big Picture update, gyro aiming and improved third-party PlayStation controller support. In addition, Valve is implementing DualSense Edge support on Steam including the support for back padel buttons.
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Big Picture update – a complete redesign of the controller’s first experience on Steam, bringing the Steam Deck user experience to the big screen
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New controller configurator – rethought and simplified configurator to set, manage, and edit controller bindings
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Gyro aiming – overhauled and improved experience for controllers with gyro, implemented Flickstick functionality in Steam Input
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Virtual menus added support to the desktop client
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PlayStation Controller support – We worked with Sony to improve support for PS controllers including DualSense Edge, and can now automatically support future 3rd party licensed PlayStation gamepads
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Xbox Controller support – We shipped a driver for Windows allowing us to better support Xbox One controllers, including the rear buttons on the Xbox Elite Controllers
Valve has also recently announced a new Steam Video Recording beta where players can record gameplay on PC and on the Steam Deck. Catch up on those details here.
