Valve will officially release their new Steam Controller on May 4, 2026 at 10 AM PT for a price of $99 (USD). This new controller was announced in November 2025 alongside their new Steam Machine and Steam Frame VR headset.
Valve says that the Steam Controller was designed "with all the inputs to play all your game son Steam however you like to play them." The Steam Controller is compatible with desktop PCs, laptops, Steam Deck, and "any device running Steam or Steam Link." Naturally, the Steam Controller will work with the upcoming Steam Machine and Steam Frame devices from Valve.
On release day, the Steam Controller will be available to purchase through Steam in the following regions: U.S., CA, U.K., EU, and AU. Those living in regions such as Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan will be able to purchase the Steam Controller through an official distributor, Komodo Station.
Valve notes that the Steam Controller sports several advanced features such as TMR thumbsticks, trackpads, grip buttons, and much more. Additional details on those features are below. The controller also comes with "a cool puck" that doubles as a wireless transmitter for the controller and a charging station.
Steam Controller Highlights:
- High-performance, ergonomic controller:
- Next-generation magnetic thumbsticks with TMR technology
- Full-sized controls
- Trackpads
- Grip buttons
- Grip-enabled Gyro (Grip Sense)
- Comes with a cool puck!
- Puck serves as a wireless transmitter for a fast, stable connection
- ...and it's also a charging station (clicks in magnetically to your Controller)
- Battery life capable of supporting 35+ hours of gameplay
Valve also shared a general FAQ for the Steam Controller.
Why trackpads?
Many games on PC are intended to be used with a mouse (think FPS, puzzle games, point-and-click adventures, and deck builders, in addition to a lot of older games). The trackpads on Steam Controller provide an enormous amount of flexibility for playing, especially in their ability to act as a mouse replacement for these kinds of games. They're highly precise and customizable, which allows you to dial them in whether for a cozy puzzle game or a highly competitive shooter.
Besides just using them as a mouse, in Steam Input you have the option to map them as many other things as well, like button clusters, joystick, virtual menus, and more.
Gyro seems cool; what does that mean on Steam Controller?
Gyroscopes and accelerometers aren't new to gaming (nor to Valve devices), but more recently the growth of the gyro gaming community (specifically those who really "dial it in" for competitive games) has helped drive the technology forward. The gyroscope is a highly precise sensor that detects the rotation of the entire controller, meaning as you're gaming with your Steam Controller you can find yourself aiming, controlling cameras, steering wheels, and flight yokes with the tilt of the wrists.
We have a whole step-by-step guide for getting the most out of the gyro on Steam Controller that we'll be sharing soon on the product page. You should check it out!
But first-- we can't talk about gyro on Steam Controller without talking about Grip Sense.
Wait, what is Grip Sense?
Grip Sense is what we're calling the new input that uses capacitive touch sensors to sense if you're holding the handles. There is one sensor in each handle of the Steam Controller. The primary use for this is to enable/disable Gyro quickly so you can reset your position when you get to the edge of your comfortable zone (called "ratcheting"). Kind of like when you reach the end of your mousepad and pick up your mouse to recenter it.
You can even map Grip Sense like any other button! We love using it to pull up menus, weapon wheels, and even pause the game when you put the controller down.
Grip Buttons
Grip buttons give you 4 extra, easy to use buttons for you to map whatever you want to. They are most especially useful when mapped to ABXY: you never have to move your thumb off the right stick or trackpad, allowing you to maintain precision at all times.
Powered by Steam Input
The Steam Controller and Steam Input would swipe right on each other if they could. (That's a terrible pun that just means they're a great match.) Using all the customization tools we provide in Steam Input Configurator, you can customize the Steam Controller however you want. The possibilities are limitless! (Well technically there is a finite amount of possibilities but it’s a really big number – it let's you do some crazy things)
Bonus cool factor with this? Steam Controller will be pre-populated with community configurations for thousands of games out-of-the box, and a good chunk of that is thanks to the hard work done by developers and the community for Steam Deck. You can also make and share your own!
More to come
We'll have more posts leading up to launch and beyond including how to guides, deeper looks at how we arrived at some of the features we did (including Grip Sense), and tips for things like traveling with your Steam Controller, different connectivity modes, and more.
Many games on PC are intended to be used with a mouse (think FPS, puzzle games, point-and-click adventures, and deck builders, in addition to a lot of older games). The trackpads on Steam Controller provide an enormous amount of flexibility for playing, especially in their ability to act as a mouse replacement for these kinds of games. They're highly precise and customizable, which allows you to dial them in whether for a cozy puzzle game or a highly competitive shooter.
Besides just using them as a mouse, in Steam Input you have the option to map them as many other things as well, like button clusters, joystick, virtual menus, and more.
Gyro seems cool; what does that mean on Steam Controller?
Gyroscopes and accelerometers aren't new to gaming (nor to Valve devices), but more recently the growth of the gyro gaming community (specifically those who really "dial it in" for competitive games) has helped drive the technology forward. The gyroscope is a highly precise sensor that detects the rotation of the entire controller, meaning as you're gaming with your Steam Controller you can find yourself aiming, controlling cameras, steering wheels, and flight yokes with the tilt of the wrists.
We have a whole step-by-step guide for getting the most out of the gyro on Steam Controller that we'll be sharing soon on the product page. You should check it out!
But first-- we can't talk about gyro on Steam Controller without talking about Grip Sense.
Wait, what is Grip Sense?
Grip Sense is what we're calling the new input that uses capacitive touch sensors to sense if you're holding the handles. There is one sensor in each handle of the Steam Controller. The primary use for this is to enable/disable Gyro quickly so you can reset your position when you get to the edge of your comfortable zone (called "ratcheting"). Kind of like when you reach the end of your mousepad and pick up your mouse to recenter it.
You can even map Grip Sense like any other button! We love using it to pull up menus, weapon wheels, and even pause the game when you put the controller down.
Grip Buttons
Grip buttons give you 4 extra, easy to use buttons for you to map whatever you want to. They are most especially useful when mapped to ABXY: you never have to move your thumb off the right stick or trackpad, allowing you to maintain precision at all times.
Powered by Steam Input
The Steam Controller and Steam Input would swipe right on each other if they could. (That's a terrible pun that just means they're a great match.) Using all the customization tools we provide in Steam Input Configurator, you can customize the Steam Controller however you want. The possibilities are limitless! (Well technically there is a finite amount of possibilities but it’s a really big number – it let's you do some crazy things)
Bonus cool factor with this? Steam Controller will be pre-populated with community configurations for thousands of games out-of-the box, and a good chunk of that is thanks to the hard work done by developers and the community for Steam Deck. You can also make and share your own!
More to come
We'll have more posts leading up to launch and beyond including how to guides, deeper looks at how we arrived at some of the features we did (including Grip Sense), and tips for things like traveling with your Steam Controller, different connectivity modes, and more.
