I’m job searching right now and can’t really justify the Steam Controller purchase this week. Before getting laid off and RAM-pocalypse, the plan was to buy a Steam Machine and controller when it was going to release early 2026, but clearly that plan has changed a bit.
The FOMO is hitting after the previews this week! Do we think we need to worry about Steam Controller availability later in the year?
I use a DualSense Edge for my PS5, and either an old PS controller when docked or my 8BitDo SN30 when I travel for the Steam Deck. If I had the Steam Machine I’d buy it instantly, but who knows when that will happen and how much it’ll cost.
I would not personally suspect availability concerns for the controller in the same way I would expect for the frame and machine.
I think the Steam Machine was the weakest part of the line-up, even before all the memory shortage stuff, which is likely going to increase the price. I think, the only reason that’s going to sell out, if Valve just doesn’t have a lot of them.
As for the Frame, VR is just too niche, so similarly, I don’t think it will be hard to get one.
Maybe not in the current climate, but what they ended up doing with both the Steam Deck and the Steam Deck Dock is they went on sale after about a year or so, so if you could wait for that long you could probably get it a few bucks cheaper.
That or the AI bubble crashes and shit just get infinitely worse to the point even that is not feasible.
This all being said, you should probably try be more money conscious. Save money from unnecessary purchases, and splurge when you’re doing better. Give or take, etc, all that stuff.
Why would it get worse if the Ai bubble crashes? It would probably get better.
It would be like the 2007 financial/housing crisis.
You could get amazingly huge and quality houses, cars, stores, etc for dirt cheap but that’s because a metric ton of people were layed off and had to sell their assets to make ends meet.
The AI bubble is compounded by the fact that it’s primarily propped up by ~1 trillion USD in private credit, which for all intents and purposes is basically just the same system as CDOs which caused the 2007/8 crash.
If AI blows, all that debt comes back null, and since all other major investments are based on speculation and multiplied debt obligations, the economy collapses (again).
Granted, if you’re lucky enough to not fall to the effects of such a crash, components will be dirt cheap and great time to buy.
But if you’re layed off, you’re looking at potentially a year+ of unemployment, in which case it won’t matter if you can get a 5090 for $300 because you’ll be more concerned with surviving without an income.
Because when the bubble pops the entire economy goes with it, computer parts might see a drop in demand but bread will be a much higher priority for most at that point.
You forget the used market. If the bubble pops, then many users and companies will start selling RAM and graphics cards. This means the prices will go down in used market, and because less people buy new, the prices for new hardware have to go down too. So building new machines or upgrading will be cheaper than it is right now.
Which parts would get more expensive and how do you come to that conclusion that people need more money for bread that way? I don’t get the logic, what is the argumentation here?
The entire US economy has been propped up on the bullshit of AI investing. If AI turns out to not be as profitable as advertised, meaning the bubble pops, literally everything goes to shit. Additionally, the longer war with Iran continues will only exacerbate this shit show, everything that needs to be transported by planes, ships, and trucks especially will get much more expensive, this also has the potential to completely collapse the dollar in value. Components may be relatively cheaper than today when you take inflation into account. But most of us will still not be able to afford them because most of our money will be spent buying essentials.
I do want the bubble to pop but unless a bunch of other shit is fixed extremely quickly it’s not gonna help affordability for a while
You think everything on planet is based on Ai and if it goes down, everything goes down? No. If the Ai bullshit bursts, then companies will have billions to spend on other stuff. Where one part of the economy falls apart, another part will rise. Money doesn’t just disappear (usually). It will be a better world for end consumers and for most companies, including Ai first companies.
The only money they make is out of speculation, not because it makes them more money in production. People will get hired again, off course not everyone at once, but there will be a need.
Tell me you don’t pay attention to economic news and trends without telling me
You don’t get right, by just declaring other opinions as wrong. That’s not how discussions work. So if you don’t have anything valuable to add, then just don’t respond.
Absolutely not. I doubt they will even sell all that well. But I’ve been wrong before.
I suspect that, given it’s just a controller, they likely won’t run into the same supply issues that might hit the steam machine or frame. That and I’m anticipating it will sell stronger, for longer, than their first steam controller; so even if stock does sell out at some stage I wouldn’t expect them to discontinue it for some years, any stock shortage would likely be brief.
Lastly, the staggered release cycle will probably help them manage supply issues (if they do arise) better than if they were to release all of them at the same time (the people buying a controller now, won’t need to buy one bundled with a steam machine later, etc).
I really wouldn’t worry about this while on a job hunt. Wait til you’re financially secure and then treat yo self.
I have the strongest of feelings all the scalpers and their bots will buy up all the stock almost immediately and resell for bare minimum $200-300USD ( or currency equivalent price ). So yeah, I definitely think there’s gonna be a temporary shortage. At least until the scalpers are forced to sell at a loss because Valve gets more stock and/or does the whole thing of selling refurbished controllers at a discounted price, assuming they do it like they did for deck.
I suspect Valve will limit initial sales. Based on what they did with the Steam Deck, I expect:
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You’ll probably have to have a Steam account with a purchased game on the account. Possibly the game will have to have been purchased before a specific date
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There will be a limit on how many purchases per account, probably 1-2
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Account in good standing (no VAC bans, not flagged for abusing game refunds, etc)
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Not expecting any shortages. I think they have enough experience with handling supply now.
When the first controller and link came out it was hard to get for a while before stock evened out after some time. I’d argue this one is gonna probably sell out for longer due to supply chain restrictions on top of the now larger user base of steam now compared to back then.
I think the price reveal put off a bunch of people who might have bought the controller “on impulse” to maybe waiting for a sale or something, if they get it at all.
I’m certain it won’t be a problem past a month. Primary input on PC is mouse and keyboard. The primary users for this gamepad will be steam machine owners. The controller for now requires steam. Some sunset of ~150 million people will buy this. I’d be surprised if this sold to even 10% in 5 years. It’ll be competing with the likes of 8bitdo and others that while they may have less buttons, no trackpad, it’s the amount of buttons devs design around. Steam controllers until they become overwhelmingly popular along with other controllers that mimic it, those rear buttons won’t be essential for gamepad native games. Steam controllers have nice to haves rather than being the minimum needed. Vast majority of gamers would be served by a $30 8bitdo perfectly well for their uses
I’d expect the PlayStation and Xbox regular first party controllers and maybe even the premium first party consoles controllers to sell more than this and they don’t seem to have supply problems. Those are essential to the console experience. Steam controller is not to PC gaming
15% of game sessions on steam are with a controller, that’s like 10m people lmao
I don’t play competitive games, and I prefer to play with a controller on my gaming computer. I’ll be purchasing one on Monday! Just love the Steam Deck controllers, so why would I not purchase the controller itself?
I did not make an argument for why you would not make the purchase. I’m making the argument that it won’t be scarce later in the year because gamepads for PC don’t sell in the volumes like consoles. They’re not used at volume as consoles. People will buy it. People that already have gamepads are less likely to buy it, but they may still buy it. I am addressing the OP who is asking opinions on likelihood of the controller being scarce later in the year
I know. I was just providing my two cents, being part of the 15%.
what percentage of the 10 million people do you expect to buy a steam controller and how much would that compare to playstation, nintendo and xbox owners? That’s 10 million steam gamers that already have gamepads to play on steam and the other 85% playing with I’m assuming mouse and keyboard. PS5 has sold ~100 million where each package in a gamepad plus all the additional that you see in stores and have been purchased. Do you believe this steam controller will be hard to find and why? It seems to me that the manufacturing of gamepads is not a struggle considering how many are available and that the steam controller has a release date already rather than the machine or frame
Mostly arguing that the “primary purchasers” would only be steam machine users.
For my part, I have a deck and I’m really excited to get the steam controller as my elite 2 controller is already suffering stick drift and bumper issues.
Edit: To clarify, I’ll use it on my desktop, not with the deck ha
Also I’ll add the steam controller looks to be basically a premium controller for about half the price of most at that range.
I don’t know anyone who intends to buy a steam machine but I know a lot of people who intend to buy the steam controller. Now this is just my experience in my circles, but I wouldn’t think it’s a rare thing.
I didn’t say it would be a rare thing. The question is whether someone believes the steam controller will be hard to get later in the year as stated in the OPs post. I do not believe it will be hard to get
What I meant was that I think the initial enthusiasm towards the product will go way beyond the people considering getting a steam machine and wouldn’t think it odd for there to be some “sold out, next batch arriving in x” moments
Maybe!
