If a new patent is anything to go by, Valve is taking another crack at the “Steam Controller.” Roughly five years ago, Valve unleashed its own take on the gamepad for use with its digital distribution service Steam. Created with haptic feedback trackpads to better mimic mouse movement, the peripheral never quite took on with gamers. Its unconventional design is likely the main culprit there.
As discovered by PCGamesN, Valve’s recently filed patent notes that the second iteration of the Steam Controller will feature swappable components similar to Microsoft’s Xbox Elite gamepad. If you don’t like the trackpads, you can change those to something else. If you aren’t fond of the buttons, get rid of them and make your own. This modular design is what Valve seems to be banking on to make the Steam Controller a hit.
Going a step further, changing out the specific components will then activate different profiles on Steam. This means that if you change the joystick to a d-pad, it won’t attempt to emulate the joystick movement. That’s much more in-depth than what controllers typically do.
With the first iteration being quite a bit old now, it does appear that Valve will be releasing something new soon. Steep discounts on the previous controller have basically cleared out any excess stock Valve may have had, so a new version is the only logical step left.
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