Two years ago, Valve told The Verge it wanted a successor to its cult classic Steam Controller, whose incredibly customizable buttons and touchpads paved the way for the Steam Deck handheld PC. Now, Valve watcher Brad Lynch claims a Steam Controller 2 — codename “Ibex” — is actually getting made.
His sources tell him the Steam Controller 2 is currently being tooled for mass production, and it’s apparently not the only new Valve gamepad on the way!
Remember the long-swirling rumors about Valve’s standalone “Deckard” VR headset, the one that could be an inexpensive Meta Quest-like wireless alternative to the aging Valve Index? Lynch has discovered references to a new wand-like “Roy” controller in Valve’s SteamVR code, and his sources say that Roy is now aimed at mass production as well.
What’s more, “Roy” may have enough buttons to double as a Steam Controller gamepad when it’s not acting as your hands in VR. Unlike the Index wands, they’ll apparently have a D-pad, bumpers (aka shoulder buttons), and a full set of ABXY buttons for traditional gaming as well.
I hope it’s good because we’re not getting a 3.
Oh boy, this joke is so right. But when you see the 20th anniversary documentary it is very obvious why there’s not a 3 anything.
Without seeing it I can take a guess that it’s because after 2 games, everyone’s tired of that IP and wants to do something else (and most of it’s not making video games). Getting detailed glimpses of how Valve works over the years has made me really wonder what most of them actually do these days. Surely it’s not just maintaining CS2, DOTA2, TF2 and working on Deadlock. It just also may not be video game related.
They explicitly said they only make games out of interesting new tech or gameplay mechanics. Then, they polish it with QoL and riffing ideas with said concepts (usually version 2). They don’t continue unless they have enough new fun things worth to fill an entire game. They mention each of half-life’s things. They experimented with blob physics and ice physics for HL3 but finally decided it wasn’t enough to fill an entire game. The blobs returned as Portal 2 liquids, as the portal gun already added enough variety and fun things to do with it. So they made that instead.
They don’t care all that much about storytelling or resolving cliffhangers, unless they come from some gameplay. Telling a story is never the driving force in their games. Gameplay is.
After having a Steam Deck for a while, I’d love to have a Steam controller for when I’m on my PC.
They got a lot of hate when they were available. I like it, I even have the official storage case for mine.
I never understood the hate. I still use mine every day. Bought an extra 2 when Valve was offloading stock for $5 each.
Would be really happy to see them make another real one instead of that Steam-branded regular controller by Hori that came out. The original was not so easy to get used to by everyone with the trackpads being mandatory instead of optional but if the second one did the same thing the Steam Deck does and included both traditional controls as well as decent trackpads I think it would be perfect. Still really like my original Steam Controller too.
Also definitely interested in seeing what Valve sees the next tracked VR controller being like. The Index controllers have lots of interesting ideas but were never really utilized to the degree I hoped and some parts like the way they try to do finger tracking are probably outdated in them.
Finally, valve is doing something
Oh, yes, give me more controllers that can be held in each hand independently of each other! I loved that with the Wii. Playing Zelda with one hand in my lap and the other behind my head was so comfortable.
I didn’t like the Joycons of the Switch, though. They were too small and with too little grip for me. VR controllers (at least the Quest ones) feel nice. But for some stupid reason they can’t be used as regular controllers.
I hope the rumors are true and Valve can break that paradigm.
