Steam Announces Steam Controller Release Date Alongside Information

It has been a while since Valve announced the imminent launch of the "Valve Hardware Family". In the heels of the Steam Deck success, it was all but a given that Steam would continue to expand its dominance across the PC gaming market by building on what they'd already done.

The company hasn't been strangers to taking risks on hardware devices, following many failures in the past that have caused hiccups along the road. Early versions of the Steam controller were deemed one of the best devices for PC gaming at the time, though perhaps the industry wasn't where it needed to be for it to really take off.

Valve has also had the Steam console and the Valve Index, with each of the devices having its fair share of loyal fans... and doubtful adopters. Sure, the hardware was controversial at best, but when Steam hit gold with the Steam Deck, it seemed like it was firing on all cylinders to move forward with Steam Big Picture, SteamOS, and knowing what the PC gaming community needs.

Of course, we haven't heard much about the Steam Machine, Steam Controller, and the Steam Frame since the announcement trailer a while back. Not that there was much to say, however, as the robust information available for them meant that we knew enough to be sold from the get-go...

... and then the RAMapocalypse began.

Following the market price surge, allowing companies to leave consumers, and AI is hogging everything up (as it does and continues to do), shaking the videogame industry. Console prices rose, new consoles came out at higher prices, console prices rose (again — thanks, Sony), and perhaps the biggest casualty of all, the Steam Machine and Steam Frame, both seemed to be, for all intents and purposes, delayed for the most part.

Now, we've heard a lot of rumours and whisperings of the upcoming launch of the Steam Controller, the only of the three new hardware that isn't affected by the global RAM and storage issues. With shipping manifests (yes, people are taking it that seriously) to data mining, it seemed pretty evident: the Steam Controller was around the corner, and it's finally here.

Valve announced that the Steam Controller will be arriving very soon — on the 4th of May 2026. The news post talks a bit about the features that the Steam Controller will have, including the revolutionary trackpads for mouse-focused games, gyro, and all of the bells and whistles that the Steam Controller is built with.

Now, for the pricing element of it, it's going to be a bit on the expensive side. Exactly as data seemed to suggest, those robust features that the Steam Controller is arriving paired with are at the cost of £85, which, though it isn't terrible, is above the market average between PlayStation, Xbox, and the Nintendo Switch, which ranges from £60–£70.

For those who are interested in checking out the Steam Controller, it's only going to be available in the regions where the Steam Deck is. So, players in the US, Canada, UK, the EU, and Australia, alongside Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan through the official distributor.