Discovering that your new hardware product is more popular than you were expecting is a nice problem to have, but it’s far less fun to be on the (not) receiving end. Valve’s Steam Controller, which is a very decent if pricey way to play games, sold out in less than an hour on its May 4 launch day. The $100 device was restocked quickly, with a new reservation system put in place to stave off scalpers, but it turns out those reservation queues are lasting a lot longer than anyone was expecting. Valve is now warning prospective buyers that they won’t be receiving their controller until 2027 at the earliest.
In a news post on Steam, Valve explains that the company “quickly saw that initial demand exceeded our expectations,” adding that the after-the-horse-had-bolted reservation system has “(hopefully) cut down on the headaches on the customer side,” and also that “it’s…been helpful as we plan ahead and try to get as many out as quickly as we are able.” But, that ability is still going to fall short of the extraordinary demand.
From now on, when you make a reservation to be put in the order queue for the controller, teeny little text will appear letting you know when you can expect that order to be fulfilled. And if you hit that button today, you’re going to get told the very depressing and surprisingly unhelpful result, “2027.”
If you’ve already entered a reservation in the past few weeks, you can now go back and check to see when you might be likely to receive one. This breaks down to three windows: By September 2026; By December 2026; and In 2027. Valve adds that the latter result has “additional information on specific timing to come.”
The feverish response is understandable. Valve’s previous controller was well liked and uniquely well-designed for PC gaming, and the 2026 version is an improvement in every way. It may look ridiculous, but the two trackpads allow for mouse-like control of PC gaming via your thumbs, while the rest of the controller offers everything else you’d expect from a rival model. It’s essentially a Steam Deck with the screen removed, and given the soon-to-come madness that will accompany the launch of Valve’s Steam Machine mini-PCs, it’s clearly going to be the preferred way to interact with those. If you can get one.
That does raise another interesting question: It’s widely expected that the Steam Machine, for which a release date announcement is imminent, will be offered in a bundle with a Steam Controller. That only makes sense, right? It’s a PC for sticking under your TV, letting you play games from the couch. Setting up a mouse and keyboard in that situation isn’t helpful, and while an Xbox controller or the like will work just fine for some games, you won’t be having a satisfying game of Civilization VII that way. So is Valve holding back Steam Controllers for this summer’s launch of the Machines? To do so while not selling them separately for at least the next six months would be weird, but to not do so would be an equally bemusing decision. (Either way, expect the Steam Machine at any price to sell out equally instantly.) We’ve reached out to Valve to ask.
