Valve should release its new Steam Controller early while we’re waiting for the Steam Machine and Frame

It’s well documented at this point that memory and storage shortages have hit the PC building industry hard. In terms of how this is affecting Valve, the company has shifted its announced ‘early 2026’ hardware launch timeframe to a safer “first half of the year” for the Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and Steam Controller. This has officially been blamed on the shortages – the very same reason why the Steam Deck OLED went out of stock earlier this week.

Valve noted in an update post that the shortages have forced them to go back to the drawing board before they can announce exact shipping and pricing details, “especially around Steam Machine and Steam Frame”. But what about the Steam controller? It’s unlikely to be affected by the same shortages, so are thousands of units just stuck waiting to be shipped?

Is shipping the Steam Controller right now a good idea?

It’s impossible to know exactly how much stock Valve has ready to go, or if they have even entertained the idea of breaking up the triple hardware launch. In any case, we’ve seen people online calling for Valve to start shipping the Steam Controller while interest is still relatively high, whether it be on Reddit or on Steam’s community forums. Valve is a company that doesn’t rush launches, but it feels like the new controller is being held hostage by the other hardware delays (we speculate). It seems obvious that Valve always intended to launch all three together, but as more time passes, people may be losing interest.

With the prospect of people growing impatient, or worse, becoming uninterested in the new Steam hardware, we’ve put together a few reasons why Valve might want to let the Steam Controller go free rather than wait for the Machine & Frame.

It’s already ready to use in thousands of games

People don’t need a Steam Machine or Frame to make the most of the new controller. As Valve puts it, the new Steam controller delivers “all the inputs to play all the games on Steam, wherever Steam is”. As you’d expect, it’s configurable with Steam Input. And while it pairs well with the new cubed mini PC without needing its special USB-C ‘Puck’, it will work just fine with any PC gaming hardware – including the Steam Deck.

Dual trackpads and grip-enabled gyro features will also help it stand out from the crowd of other controllers people tend to use on PC, such as Xbox or PlayStation pads (or GameCube, since Valve recently added support for those).

People have been waiting for a Steam Controller 2 for a while

If you didn’t already know, this is the second-generation Steam Controller, with the original one launching back in 2015, pioneering a dual-trackpad design and ditching thumbsticks altogether – a design decision which probably turned many people off it. Even still, it sold over a million units before being discontinued in 2019, and trackpads were carried over to the massively popular Steam Deck handheld.

The new-gen controller essentially follows the same design philosophy as the Deck, with trackpads and thumbsticks present for the best of both worlds (and a backup if dreaded stick drift strikes). And based on online discussion, some people are pretty desperate for the sequel to finally arrive.

It will give us a taste of Valve’s new hardware

People hesitant to go all-in on the new Steam hardware may be hoping to get a taste of what Valve has cooked up, starting with the cheapest of the three new products. Yes, we don’t know the prices yet, but the controller will certainly be the cheapest, especially when it’s not dealing with crazy RAM and SSD price hikes.

If someone were to pick up the Steam Controller and become a big fan of it, that could trigger a newfound interest in the Steam Machine, or even the VR headset; Valve has already shown how it can pair with the controller for immersive couch gaming… or backyard gaming as seen in the marketing snap below.

The drawbacks of launching now

There are reasons why Valve intends to ship all three pieces of this hardware together, including those beyond our knowledge. However, the first thing that comes to mind is bundles – just like any new console launch, there are opportunities for promotions and savings for customers to make with a 2-in-1 or 3-in-1 combo. This would be more difficult to pull off with a tiered or more fragmented launch.

We mentioned the Steam Controller already being great as a standalone device, but that’s assuming everyone who buys one already has a PC to play on. Decoupling the controller from the Steam Machine or Frame may prove to be a mistake if a large percentage of people are looking to use it on day one with one of those devices. This includes console players interested in making the jump to PC, especially as the Machine features a much more console-like experience since it runs SteamOS.

Finally, tariffs are another thing to consider. While the controller probably isn’t affected by the ongoing hardware shortages, import tariffs may still be relevant and disrupt Valve from nailing the price tag.