Valve Patents a New Steam Controller Design

Released back in 2015, when Valve introduced the Steam Controller it wasn’t received overly well by the community. Owning one myself (albeit, I can’t quite remember where it currently resides) while it did offer some unique functionality, ultimately it felt both cheap and clumsy. Whether it was an outright failure or not though, is largely a matter of opinion.

Following a post on Twitter, however, user ‘Tyler McVicker‘ has come across an interesting discovery. Namely, that a brand new patent application by Valve has dropped a huge hint that they’re willing to give the market another swing!

Valve to Launch the Steam Controller 2?

The patent is clearly for a controller and, as you can see in the applications section, has been issued by Valve. In terms of what it will actually represent, however, unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be that many details. The image does seem to suggest though that they may want to stick with the ‘trackpad’ thumb controls. A factor that put many of the original consumers off the design.

Albeit, a closer look possibly suggests that they may be exploring the possibility of making these removable. If correct, that would be a huge step in the right direction!

What Do We Think?

While you have to appreciate Valve trying to come up with something different in their ‘original’ controller, the bottom line is that it wasn’t popular. As such, one can only hope that they’ve learnt from these mistakes and, presuming that a new controller is on the way, that this new design looks to give PC owners a genuinely good alternative option.

At the risk of sounding like a cynic though, I think that whatever Valve produces, I’ll be sticking with my Xbox One controller.

What do you think? Did you own a Steam Controller? If so, do you actually use it? – Let us know in the comments!