Two years ago, Valve told The Verge it wanted a successor to its cult classic Steam Controller, whose incredibly customizable buttons and touchpads paved the way for the Steam Deck handheld PC. Now, Valve watcher Brad Lynch claims a Steam Controller 2 — codename “Ibex” — is actually getting made.
His sources tell him the Steam Controller 2 is currently being tooled for mass production, and it’s apparently not the only new Valve gamepad on the way!
Remember the long-swirling rumors about Valve’s standalone “Deckard” VR headset, the one that could be an inexpensive Meta Quest-like wireless alternative to the aging Valve Index? Lynch has discovered references to a new wand-like “Roy” controller in Valve’s SteamVR code, and his sources say that Roy is now aimed at mass production as well.
What’s more, “Roy” may have enough buttons to double as a Steam Controller gamepad when it’s not acting as your hands in VR. Unlike the Index wands, they’ll apparently have a D-pad, bumpers (aka shoulder buttons), and a full set of ABXY buttons for traditional gaming as well.
Oh, yes, give me more controllers that can be held in each hand independently of each other! I loved that with the Wii. Playing Zelda with one hand in my lap and the other behind my head was so comfortable.
I didn’t like the Joycons of the Switch, though. They were too small and with too little grip for me. VR controllers (at least the Quest ones) feel nice. But for some stupid reason they can’t be used as regular controllers.
I hope the rumors are true and Valve can break that paradigm.