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If you've been following the news surrounding the Steam Machine and everything else that Valve is doing at the moment, you'll likely have come across reviews for the new Steam Controller this week, which retails for a pretty expensive £85 / $99 and will be going on sale starting May 4th.
Of course, this is not a console controller — it's meant for PC, and will have compatibility with the Steam Machine as well. In fact, we already know that it won't work with consoles at all, but that doesn't mean it's not worth comparing with the Xbox controller, which is already a popular device for playing games on PC.
The critics are well aware of this, and have been making plenty of comparisons between the two, so we thought we'd share a bit of what we've found about the Steam and Xbox controllers down below:
Digital Foundry: "Instead of focusing on console features or even compatibility though, the new Steam Controller feels like a genuine first-party pro controller for the majority of PC players that use Steam as their primary gaming interface. For those who mainly want a familiar pad for standard console‑style games, an Xbox controller remains a safe and compelling choice, supported by years of ingrained muscle memory and broad OS‑level compatibility. The Steam Controller can't match that and requires a short acclimatisation period."
Polygon: "Any concerns you have about comfort are likely to disappear once you actually pick it up. The Steam Controller might be the most naturally form-fitting controller I’ve ever held. It makes my Xbox Wireless Controller feel like a dense brick in my palms."
Tom's Hardware: "That being said, the Steam Controller really only makes sense if you do the entirety (or at least most) of your gaming on Steam. If you play elsewhere, an Xbox, PlayStation, or Switch Pro controller are cheaper and could work on both Steam and your console of choice. The PS5 controller even has a gyro."
Eurogamer: " [The thumbsticks are] close together, sitting a relatively long way into an already chunky controller in a way that forces me to extend my thumbs beyond a natural resting position just to reach them, let alone push them. And while in motion, my thumbs are often close enough to clash. It's not a disaster, but I've found it just awkward enough that, increasingly, I've been subconsciously reaching for the Xbox pad when settling down for longer sessions with a game designed for a traditional controller."
Ars Technica: "All told, we’ve really enjoyed our time so far with the Steam Controller. It’s a solidly built device with some nice extra features that make it stand out from a sea of very similar controllers on the market. For many players, though, those features won’t be enough to justify the $99 price. It’s hard to necessarily justify spending that much in a market where a first-party Xbox controller or high-quality third-party Bluetooth device can be easily found for half the price or less."
Thanks to Tom's Hardware, here's a look at the Steam Controller next to an Xbox controller as well:
Interestingly, we've seen a few critics mentioning how they had a hard time getting their Xbox PC and PC Game Pass titles to work with the Steam Controller, with PC Mag going into detail about this in particular:
"During testing, the biggest problem I encountered was the Xbox app, the home of Xbox Game Pass on PC. I couldn't add game binaries installed through Xbox on my Windows 11 test PC; the Xbox app said I didn't have permission, even as an administrator. Windows 11 locks down the Xbox app and any games installed through it on a system level, so Steam can't register them. That means no Xbox Game Pass games will work with the Steam Controller, so if you want to play, say, the upcoming Forza Horizon 6, you must buy it through Steam, not Xbox."
Despite how disappointing this might sound, people have already been pointing out ways that you'll be able to get Xbox PC games running with the Steam Controller, as the previous incarnation of Valve's controller also used to have the same limitation before workarounds such as GlosSI were created. In other words, it shouldn't be a dealbreaker.
All in all, the reviews for the Steam Controller seem to be pretty darn impressive so far, and we're definitely interested in taking it for a spin if we get the chance. That said, with no native Xbox console support, it's a hard sell for Xbox fans specifically — we can always use our Xbox controllers for playing on PC, so unless you're really interested in some of its unique features (such as the touch pads) or you're planning to get a Steam Machine (which might include one in the box anyway), it might be worth holding off for now.
We'll leave it up to you! Let us know what you think about the new Steam Controller in the comments.