Placed my order for the new one yesterday and I was curious. I bought the old one for 35 bucks at a discount. They must have had surplus stock in 2016 lol.
At one point towards the end of the OG steam controller’s availability you could buy it for $5 :3
They really did not market this thing half as well as their new one. I wonder if the lackluster demand of the past misinformed their expectations for the launch. It was also kinda cheap, it still works but the thumb pad long since disintegrated and the paddle flaps are gummy and the plastic feels brittle.
It was also much less appealing with the touchpads replacing a thumbstick and dpad, instead of being in addition to them.
Every time people say they liked the original I’m amazed because it was so godawful for me. My friends and I made jokes about the steam controller lol. As if I’d want to give up actual buttons and a stick for thumb destroying touch pads smh. The second controller however is wonderful. They really do love the number 2 over there
I wish they made a dual trackpad version with a dpad instead of the left stick
You can program the left trackpad/dpad on the original to input stick controls.
The haptic feedback isn’t as good as a physical stick though. It’s harder to know where the center is
Which is what i do, but it’s a physical improvement I’m wanting, not just the input.
I like the SC2026 but I don’t prefer the track pads, I’m kind of in a nomans land between Controller preference now 😅
I think there’s a lot of factors for the lackluster performance of the OG steam controller, ranging from the build quality, to the unconventional/niche layout, and the lack of knowledge/maturity for systems like steam input
Given how many factors have changed from 2015 I think valve should have expected the sales numbers to be a lot higher than they did :3
They have done a lot to develop the market for couch PC gaming in the last 10 years. It was kinda novel back when they first started going for it.
The heavily touchpad based design was also just more radical than people were willing to accept. It forced you to adapt to a totally different control paradigm, and took a lot of time to get used to. I liked mine, but I can see why people may have bounced off of it pretty hard.
The new Steam Controller is kind of halfway between a traditional modern controller and the old SC, so it strikes a nice balance.
I don’t think marketing was the problem, the lack of joysticks was a problem though for many.
PC gaming/Steam seems to be a lot more popular today than it was in 2015. Back then we didn’t have the scalper problem as bad as we have now either. Everybody I knew back then was using an xbox 360 wired controller, which I still think was one of the best controllers ever.
Now that every game page on steam shows controller support and the deck exists we’ve had a ton of focus on good or at least mostly functional controller controls in loads of games which never would have had it in the past.
So many people seem turned off by the lack of the second stick, but I always hated looking around with a right stick anyways lol. The trackpads were not by any means as good as using a mouse, but I found them more useable in most situations than a second stick. Also I have a tendency towards platformers which don’t even utilize more than one.
Kinda wish I got several back then. I had 1 already though. Still got it too. Now mostly use 8bitdo controllers as I mostly use them for coop games and it’s easier to use the same type of controller.
paid*
TIL
I bought my first one for whatever full price was.
When they went on deep discount ($5), I was lucky enough to snag 2 more as replacements. But to date, the first one has held up.
I bought mine as part of a bundle with the game ICEY for $8.
