this post was submitted on 29 Apr 2026
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Steam Hardware

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The issue comes down to how the device interacts with your computer. Just like the original version, the new Steam Controller has no native Windows drivers. This means the hardware relies entirely on the Steam app to function properly. If you do not have the game running via Valve's storefront app, your shiny new gamepad turns into a useless piece of plastic.

Gamers Nexus also reported this and there are a lot of other news outlets also covering this. It is kinda the same as with the steam deck where I noticed that the inputs just don't work until steam is launched. I really don't like that I have to have Steam running for this controller to work. I don't know if it is a dealbreaker for me, yet, but it really put a damper on my enthusiasm about it

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[–] ChapulinColorado@lemmy.world 9 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Me running Linux does not make me feel better when I have to run a pre-compiled binary from some (currently liked) company, valve could do better on this particular instance. How many people will actually run using the fully open source drivers? I'm guessing not most since it's not the one valve provides (unless I read that wrong).

[–] Prunebutt@slrpnk.net 8 points 3 days ago

The man point is that it's not a hardware lockout. The open-source userspace driver is a working proof of concept that the hardware will still work if you ditch steam.

Would I prefer it if they severed steam-input from the steam client and made it open source? Sure! But the community is not completely dependent on Valve.