Steam Machine

[Moonface]

Steam Machine | Launch Timing and Pricing Update
To the surprise of nobody if you haven't been living under a rock to be unaware of the ongoing RAM shortages, Valve has shared that they are unable to give the exact launch timing and pricing of the Steam Machine and its accompanying hardware in a new FAQ post.

When we announced these products in November, we planned on being able to share specific pricing and launch dates by now. But the memory and storage shortages you've likely heard about across the industry have rapidly increased since then. The limited availability and growing prices of these critical components mean we must revisit our exact shipping schedule and pricing (especially around Steam Machine and Steam Frame).

Our goal of shipping all three products in the first half of the year has not changed. But we have work to do to land on concrete pricing and launch dates that we can confidently announce, being mindful of how quickly the circumstances around both of those things can change. We will keep you updated as much as we can as we finalize those plans as soon as possible.

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As I opened with, not surprising given the state of things; however, I wonder how long the announced price will remain unchanged. If we include June, then there's about five months left for this to launch, but if circumstances are changing quickly enough that a price announced today would be outdated in less than five months, I can't see how whatever price Valve gives won't see a change before the end of the year. I remember how consoles were struggling with production during Covid, but at least that didn't also come with volatile pricing conditions.

What sucks more is even if you don't care to grab one of these in favor of sticking with a PC, you better hope you don't need to upgrade or replace the thing anytime soon.

[Moonface]

It hasn't been officially announced by Valve yet, but a YouTuber accidentally uploaded their video review of the Steam Controller before the embargo (no idea what the actual embargo date is) and those who caught it before it was taken down managed to catch that the video disclosed the price of the controller at $99. For a comparison, the original Steam Controller released in 2015 was priced at $49.

Seems pretty much on point for what the controller offers and what other controllers tend to go for nowadays. Can't say I'd get one myself but that's just because I'm not a fan of the look/layout of it regardless of the price, but I would like to find a floor model of the thing somewhere to just try out holding it or something and see how it actually is firsthand.

[Dragon Lord]

I think the biggest problem with the price is that it's putting it slightly more expensive than some 3rd party controllers that are much more worth the value than this thing is going to be at $100. It's price is definitely better than what you see for the "Big Three", but at $100 I'd rather buy something amazing like the Flydigi Vader 5 Pro or Mobapad HuBen 2 (I own both and they are absolutely amazing controllers). Or looking at 8Bitdo who offers controllers with TMR joysticks for as low as $20 on sale. Hell, I paid $115 for a bundle of Vader 5 Pro, a charging dock and an accessory kit that came with additional joystick styles.

The only thing the Steam Controller has over those controllers is the two track pads that make the controller look absolutely ridiculous. I'd rather pay for a nice looking controller that has better features (micro-switch buttons, trigger locks, better placement of extra buttons).

Like anyone who would rather play a mouse/keyboard game with those track pads on that controller instead of just using an actual keyboard and mouse is absolutely insane. An actual mouse is still going to be a lot more accurate to use than those (the only genre that really benefits a lot from kb/m over controller are shooters, and I can guarantee you anyone using an actual mouse is still going to body anyone trying to aim with that track pad).

I would say maybe $60 or $70 would have been a better price for this controller compared to what is offered on the market overall. But for value of your money, if you want something that feels premium, there's Vader 5 Pro, HuBen2 or a slew of GameSir controllers to choose from that will give you better features for a cheaper than $100, or for the budget oriented, 8bitdo gives insane value with HE/TMR joysticks, especially their Ultimate 2 which comes with a charging dock for $60 (though often found on sale for $45-$50).

This controller probably is still going to do insanely well because there's an army of Steam fanboys out there that will gobble up whatever their lord and savior Gabe puts on the market because they have this weird cult-like obsession with the dude, but as someone who likes to buy controllers, there are so many options I'd pick over this thing any day of the year. If this controller had micro-switch buttons, trigger locks and didn't have such bad placement of the back buttons, then maybe I'd say $100 was an okay price for it. Trigger locks should have been a guaranteed feature of this thing though, if they want to market this as a replacement for a mouse. Having that mouse-like instant click of a trigger stop is essential for playing shooters on controller if you must (though of course should just be using mouse/keyboard for shooters no matter what).

[Moonface]

It's price is definitely better than what you see for the "Big Three", but at $100 I'd rather buy something amazing like the Flydigi Vader 5 Pro or Mobapad HuBen 2 (I own both and they are absolutely amazing controllers).

I've never heard of those controllers before so just looked at them, and both remind me of the DualSense Edge except for considerably cheaper. On the note of cheaper, the Mobapad HuBen2 is currently on sale for $79.99 instead of $102.39, for anyone who might be interested. For what both of those controllers offer at a price that's better value for money in comparison to official controllers from the Big Three, I feel it's only a matter of time before a third party makes something similar to what the new Steam Controller offers but at a lower price.

The only thing the Steam Controller has over those controllers is the two track pads that make the controller look absolutely ridiculous. I'd rather pay for a nice looking controller that has better features (micro-switch buttons, trigger locks, better placement of extra buttons).

Like anyone who would rather play a mouse/keyboard game with those track pads on that controller instead of just using an actual keyboard and mouse is absolutely insane. An actual mouse is still going to be a lot more accurate to use than those (the only genre that really benefits a lot from kb/m over controller are shooters, and I can guarantee you anyone using an actual mouse is still going to body anyone trying to aim with that track pad).

This controller probably is still going to do insanely well because there's an army of Steam fanboys out there that will gobble up whatever their lord and savior Gabe puts on the market because they have this weird cult-like obsession with the dude, but as someone who likes to buy controllers, there are so many options I'd pick over this thing any day of the year. If this controller had micro-switch buttons, trigger locks and didn't have such bad placement of the back buttons, then maybe I'd say $100 was an okay price for it. Trigger locks should have been a guaranteed feature of this thing though, if they want to market this as a replacement for a mouse. Having that mouse-like instant click of a trigger stop is essential for playing shooters on controller if you must (though of course should just be using mouse/keyboard for shooters no matter what).

I wonder if the track pads really offer much considering nobody seems to have really bothered trying to copy the feature in the ten years since the original Steam Controller released with them. Especially when that controller was discontinued in 2019 which meant there was a gap in the market to capitalize on, but it could have been that companies thought Valve discontinued it because it didn't really catch on since we didn't know they were going to make a new version of it until leaks started coming out about it in 2024.

As for how well it does, the thing sold out in about 30 minutes. Apparently there was no system in place though to limit people though and as a result a lot of the things were appearing on eBay for more than double the price within the hour, although I don't know who in their right mind would pay a scalper for a controller so I'd hope anyone who did scalp them end up stuck with the things. I'd also hope Valve actually implements a system to prevent a repeat of that when the Steam Machine comes out, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

[Dragon Lord]

Mobapad controllers are "on sale" a lot, so you can definitely snag them up for cheap a lot of the time. They also make really good Switch controllers (their joycons are fantastic and the ChiTu 2 controller for Switch/Switch 2 is *chefs kiss* I am an absolute controller fiend and have like 8-9 controllers on my desk at any given time by various brands, so if anyone missed out on the Steam Controller but wants a nice controller now, I can definitely give you some good advice on which ones to look into (I'm also a keyboard and mouse fiend, so if anyone is looking for nice gaming keyboards/mice to upgrade their set-up with, hit me up).

The Steam Controller did one thing right and might be good for the industry -- they have TMR joysticks. Now, I don't know if this is going to push the other companies into starting to lean into HE/TMR finally, but I'm hoping it does. There's no excuse for the DualSense (at least the DualSense Edge) and Xbox Controllers (at least the Elite series) not having at least Hall Effect sticks. For the extremely premium price you pay for an Edge or Elite controller, you should be getting the best tech possible in them, and the fact that all of the controllers I listed + the Steam Controller have HE/TMR sticks for $100 or less really shines a light of pure shame on the Big Three.

If they made a version of the Steam Controller, took off the track pads and gave it microswitch buttons, d-pad, bumpers and triggers (+added trigger stops), I would 100% be down to try it out. But as it stands right now, it's an easy pass for me when the controllers I listed exist, give HE/TMR + a ton of other huge positives over the Steam Controller.

I'm not surprised that scalpers swooped in to ruin the day like they always do. Unfortunately companies still haven't learned that you need to put restrictions in place to prevent this shit from happening. And since they sell the controller through Steam itself, they could have easily put in a restriction that your Steam account must be a certain age in order to buy a controller (for the first batch or two of the controller, just to be sure that they aren't going to brand new scalper/bot accounts). The sad thing is that there are enough rabid Steam/Gabe fanboys out there that they will gladly pay scalpers $200-$300 just to have the controller.

Also I just noticed that every version of the Steam Deck is out of stock right now. I wonder if they plan on restocking at any point or if they're just going to ditch the Deck to focus on the Machine now. I was still thinking of buying one eventually despite just dropping stacks on the PlayStation Portal, but looks like I may be waiting a bit for that to happen.