While Valve more or less cornered the market on digital game distribution, the company has struggled with physical hardware. The company’s first foray, the Steam Machine, flopped, while Valve’s second stab, the Steam Controller, was better received but didn’t sell well. A lawsuit that alleged the controller was the product of copyright infringement didn’t help. However, with the success of the Steam Deck, Valve is finally gaining traction in the gaming hardware market. But let’s go back to the Steam Controller for a bit.

In spite of the sales figures and lawsuit, Valve’s proprietary controller was highly regarded and considered an ambitious bit of tech. It was far from perfect, but users generally liked the device. Now that Valve has finally found its footing and demonstrated it can create a successful piece of gaming hardware, one can’t help but wonder what would happen if it revisited the Steam Controller. And here’s why that “would” should become, well, a “should.”

Valve would get to fix the Steam Controller’s biggest flaws

The Steam Controller would finally get the D-pad it’s sorely missing

As previously stated, the Steam Controller had many fantastic features, but Valve had to sacrifice many other components, some of which have been a standard part of controller design for decades. If there’s ever a reason to try and remake something, be it a game or controller, it’s to fix mistakes.

Let’s start with the obvious: the Steam Controller has only one analog thumbstick and completely lacks a d-pad. While there’s nothing wrong with experimentation, a secondary analog stick is arguably the best way to steer player cameras in most 3D games, and D-pads can fill a variety of functions depending on a game’s style and genre. In their place, Valve inserted two large trackpads. The idea was to have these components simulate mouse, thumbstick, and/or d-pad controls depending on what users needed at the time. By all accounts, the build quality was fantastic, but functionality was lacking. You had to customize touchpad settings for every game. Granted, the process was easy thanks to Steam Input – it’s almost as if the feature was made for the Steam Controller – but to repeat it for every game? Talk about time-consuming. A main selling point of controllers is that they are elegant in their simplicity. Just plug it in and start playing.

To be frank, Valve learned its lessons from the Steam Controller to produce the Steam Deck, and the company should definitely make things come around full circle and use the Steam Deck as a blueprint for a Steam Controller 2.0. While Valve’s engineers kept the trackpads for the Steam Deck, they tightened the design and shrank the necessary components to fit in a proper D-pad and second stick. The result is a superior scheme that gives users more control over how they play without sacrificing comfort or requiring constant (and finicky) tweaks. If Valve implemented these improvements into a new Steam Controller, the company could produce a stellar peripheral that combines the design philosophies of console and PC gaming without favoring one over the other.

Technology has improved since the Steam Controller

Goodbye USB dongle, hello Bluetooth

When the Steam Controller was released, it was ambitious. Aside from the trackpads, the device also boasted dual-stage triggers and HD haptics. Hi-tech for the time, but controllers have evolved since then, so why not let the Steam Controller evolve with them?

Let’s start with the haptics. The Steam Controller’s haptics were all in the trackpads. These components gave a tangible (and satisfying) click when pressed down to simulate the click of a mouse button. While Valve carried this feature over to the Steam Deck, the company also expanded haptics to the handheld’s triggers, but advances in haptics didn’t stop there. The PlayStation 5’s DualSense controller is currently the pinnacle of haptic feedback. Just play Astro’s Playroom to get a feel – pun definitely intended – of what haptics can do. Now imagine playing an FPS with a controller that provides the satisfying click of pressing a mouse while also rumbling along with the recoil of whatever gun you’re using. That could easily turn into the definitive way to play.

Advances in controller technology also go beyond haptics. When the Steam Controller was initially released, it relied on a wireless USB dongle. Small and simple, but it still required a spare USB slot. Nowadays, most game controllers rely on Bluetooth. This technology lets you use a DualSense on PC, and you can even make the Xbox Series X|S controller swap between Windows and console by double tapping the device’s sync button. An updated controller could/would/should get rid of the need for a dongle and just rely on Bluetooth to connect to computers. In fact, depending on Valve’s willingness to collaborate with other manufacturers, the Steam Controller 2.0 could potentially be used to play games on smartphones or even the Nintendo Switch.

Most controllers don’t take full advantage of the Steam Deck

Don’t just treat the Steam Deck like a Nintendo Switch clone; play like it is one, too

While the Steam Deck looks like a Nintendo Switch, it acts more like a Nintendo Switch Lite since the controllers are hard-wired into the sides of the screen. If you want to connect the Deck to a TV and play games off it, you will need a Steam Deck Dock (sold separately). You can then link almost any controller to the handheld thanks to Bluetooth, but that raises a question: Why hope Valve creates a new Steam Controller you can use with the Steam Deck if you already have a preexisting controller? Because you lose some functionality otherwise.

To put it simply, most controllers don’t have as many inputs as the Steam Deck. When playing that device, you have access to two thumbsticks, a d-pad, four face buttons, two trackpads, two shoulder triggers, two shoulder bumpers, four underside grip buttons, and gyro assist. Most first-party controllers only have the thumbsticks, D-pad, face buttons, and shoulder triggers/bumpers. The Nintendo Switch Pro Controller has gyro aiming but no trackpads or grip buttons; the PlayStation 5 DualSense has only one trackpad and limited gyro but no grip buttons, and the standard Xbox controller doesn’t have any of these extras. That is where a new Steam Controller could improve your Steam Deck experience while playing on a TV.

With a new Steam Controller, Valve could help players retain the gyro controls, trackpad functionality, and programmable grips of the Steam Deck while the handheld is docked. More importantly, Valve could sell the controller as a cheaper alternative to expensive PC controllers, as well as the Xbox Elite and DualSense Edge controllers. The Steam Controller would still probably cost a lot of money – par for the course given modern controller tech – but it would be built with the Steam Deck in mind, unlike every other controller you normally use when the handheld is plugged into a TV.

Second time’s the charm

The current state of PC gaming is ripe for the return of the Steam Controller. Valve had to make some sacrifices to create their dream controller, which resulted in some significant design flaws, but now technology has caught up with that original vision. Given the praise the first Steam Controller received, and factor in similar praise given to the Steam Deck, Valve can definitely make the idea work if it gives it a second shot. Quite frankly, not trying would be akin to throwing away money.