I really hope the controller will be just a steam deck without the screen. Dual trackpads and 4 grip buttons is the best controller layout I’ve used
Dual trackpads but still dual joystick and a real D-pad.
I really tried to like my steam controller but the trackpads as the main control surface didn’t work that well.
In particular I want the two joysticks the steam deck has! Touchpads + joysticks NOT one or the other. If the steam controller came out with that and back buttons it would set a new standard and decisively reorient how people think about gamepads with respect to complex pc games.
If it just has two touchpads or two joysticks it really isn’t an evolutionary step up, more of a lateral step that improves precision (unless you include gyro… which the next steam controller needs to have).
I know this seems like an esoteric point but in my experience steam deck layouts for complex games all rely on the steam deck having 4 xy input devices.
The next steam controller should prioritize this scheme of the four basic inputs + triggers and buttons to help precipitate the concept in peoples minds that a steam style gamepad has two joysticks and two touchpads.
Longterm establishing this control “standard” as a noun in the collective minds of indie and strategy game fans and developers is by far the most important thing a new steam deck controller could do.
If an indie developer can buy a relatively inexpensive steam controller and physically test out and make some steam deck bindings for their game…they are that much more likey too.
Indie game devs provide the afterburners and linux gaming is assured a strong future!
Suddenly the limitations of sticking to a proprietary (in some ways) slow moving ecosystem of consoles start to look radically more confining in comparison because the difference became tactile and immediately tangible.
Please be true.
I’ve got two steam controllers on their last legs. I can’t go back to shitty traditional controllers.
I’m the minority that wishes the controller would have the same layout for the touchpads with it being large, circular, concave, and in the same upper positions.
I use dual touchpads on the Steam Controller to play games like Doom Eternal, Left 4 Dead 2, Spin Rhythm XD, The Finals, etc.
But, on the Deck I did not find the touchpad good for those games due to the shape, size, and placement so it turned out as being as useful as the dualsense with it becoming more a joystick controller than a touchpad controller I wanted to use in the same way I use the Steam Controller. Been hoping for years for a proper Steam Controller with upgraded gyro and 2 additional grips, but looks like it’ll never happen even if Valve came out with a new controller when it comes to a dual touchpad controller I want to use. Would be more a xbox/sony controller alternative.
Yes! The steam controller was legitimately incredible for first person games. The combination of left joystick and right touchpad was incredible once you got used to it.
I love my steam deck, but I was really disappointed with the touchpads… they are just too small too really use for much of anything other than menus. As a result, I really only play 2d games, since I hate 2-stick controls…
I never understood why Steam didn’t just make a variant of the original Steam controller that just had the classical button layout without touchpads. I liked the touchpad version for some games but it’s really clunky to use for stuff I’m otherwise used to have sticks for. I really like the Steam controller’s grip.
I would’ve loved the same controller with an Xbox layout or something or even interchangeable parts/layouts. Although that would probably drive up the price a ton.
Why would they bother making an xbox layout when they’ve already gone through the effort of making the xbox controllers compatible with games? What advantage would that have over just using an actual xbox controller or one of the numerous generics?
Touchpad is significantly better for certain games, so it would be a shame to lose it. I hope they just copy what they did with the steam deck, best of both worlds.
For me, the biggest strength of the steam controller was using the right trackpad for FPS-style games… basically a virtual trackball mouse. Once you got used to it it’s incredibly responsive and a huge upgrade on a joystick.
I never managed to get my deck to work like that. The trackpads are just too small and don’t seem as responsive somehow? Granted, I do have quite large hands
Agreed the track pads are far more than a pointing device. Creating virtual onscreen menus with mode shift was a Game changer. It needs to fully support steam input. I don’t need to relearn my controls becase I’m going from portable to docked mode.
The Steam Deck controls but with better ergonomics. Please.
I prefer the ergonomics of original SC over SD but SD has better controls. I want the best of both.
