Look at that new stick!
The original thumbstick of the Steam Controller was always a bit imperfect. I bought my Steam Controller on day one, but a few years in, the soft-touch material on the stick started to flake off. That’s gross!
Those flakes that rub off also don’t help with gripping the stick. It already has a convex-shaped top, which I like less than a concave top. It always feels like I’m pushing the stick in some direction but my thumb is slowly slipping.
After almost a decade of putting up with this, I had enough. I looked around online and found that people had figured out how to upgrade that part of the Steam Controller, and it’s actually decently easy and cheap.
Replacing the stick
It turns out the replacement sticks for the 8BitDo SN30 Pro fit perfectly in the Steam Controller!
The Steam Controller is held together with Torx T6 screws. I opened it up and carefully lifted up the mainboard, making sure not to harm the ribbon cable underneath. From there, I pulled the stock thumbstick cap off of the stick and slipped on the replacement one.
I now have a Steam Controller with a thumbstick that doesn’t rub off and is even concave for better grip!
I kind of wish that Valve had kept producing the Steam Controller.
It really made sense in the context of sitting on a couch and playing mouse-oriented games. And when the Steam Machine flopped, that kind of killed a lot of reason for it.
But people also did find a use for them, and there isn’t a real alternative.
EDIT: Well okay, there were those mods that involved tearing up a Steam Deck and using the components to make a DIY controller, but the price and technical barrier-to-entry there is gonna exclude most people.
With the Steam Deck’s success, I’m surprised the Steam Controller didn’t return, as I think it would be an excellent companion controller for couch-mode gaming. I’d buy 4 of 'em.
checks
I don’t own a Deck, but Wikipedia does say that the Deck has HDMI out. I guess that having the Steam Controller available would presumably let you use the Deck as a console — plug it into your TV, pair a Steam Controller, and then you get a big screen and a lighter controller.
You need a docking station for it
Yes. My killer motivation on day one was to be able to play point-and-click games like Puzzle Agent on a couch. Being able to emulate a mouse with trackball-style physics in a controller was so cool.
I’ve stuck with it over the years. The two trackpads are just so nice to use, especially once you get familiar with the crazy wizard tricks you can do with Steam Input.