The (probably) final Steam controller appears at GDC

Steam Controller balanced 2

What appears to be the final design of the Steam controller has been revealed at GDC, in a surprisingly informal fashion: By a picture on the side of Valve's booth.

The Steam controller has gone through a number of revisions over the past year or so, but the final design appears to be the same as the mockup that appeared in the Steam client beta in December. What we can't see in this photo are the shoulder bumpers, although that would jibe with our previous impression that they'd been rounded down from the design that turned up in July.

"Play all your Steam games from the comfort of your couch," the picture states. "Enjoy high-precision, dual trackpad input combined with low-latency wireless performance."

It looks good, but it also looks like, well, a controller. What do you think? Do you see a year-and-a-half worth of innovation and refinement here, or is it more of a wheel, reinvented? We'll get our hands on it and tell you what we think tomorrow.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.