{"id":1027337,"date":"2026-01-14T11:35:42","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T11:35:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=476188"},"modified":"2026-01-14T11:35:42","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T11:35:42","slug":"theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it\/","title":{"rendered":"There\u2019s a new Steam Controller in town, but Valve didn\u2019t make it"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The divisive Steam Controller<\/a> was the testing ground for some ideas (touchpads, rear buttons, haptics) that eventually found their way onto Valve\u2019s Steam Deck<\/a>. While the company hasn\u2019t followed up its 2015 wireless gamepad, peripheral company Hori has, in a way. The new $59.99<\/a> wireless Horipad that\u2019s up for pre-order at Amazon (launching Dec. 16) brandishes the Steam logo that doubles as a home button, and it\u2019s presumably the closest thing to a new Steam Controller we\u2019re going to get. Thankfully, it borrows some features you might recognize if you own a Steam Deck.<\/p>\n

Notably, its thumbsticks are capacitive like the Steam Deck\u2019s, meaning they know whether your thumb is resting on them or not. This trait allows you to program functions to the sticks via Steam\u2019s controller customization tools, be it triggering gyroscopic aiming (which the controller supports), bringing up a mini map, or any other command you can think of just by holding your finger to the stick. The Horipad for Steam has almost all of same buttons that present on the Steam Deck, including its vital system-level buttons, as well as two pairs of mappable macro buttons. While the Deck puts both pairs on its backside near the grips, this controller puts one pair on the front (underneath the D-pad and right stick) and another pair on the back.<\/p>\n

The Horipad for Steam supports Bluetooth, and it can also serve as an XInput controller if you attach it to your computer via the included 9.8-foot USB cable. A switch on its back lets you toggle between wireless and wired mode, and another switch changes whether the triggers are analog or digital. As for what the Horipad lacks, you won\u2019t find rumble support here, nor are there trackpads or a headphone jack.<\/p>\n

This controller seems competent for the price, although if you have consoles at home, you may already have a favorite gamepad to use with Steam or a Steam Deck. My former Verge colleague Sam Byford reviewed the Horipad for his blog Multicore<\/a> before it was announced in more regions, saying that it\u2019s an intriguing controller, but not an impressive one.<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The divisive Steam Controller was the testing ground for some ideas (touchpads, rear buttons, haptics) that eventually found their way onto Valve\u2019s Steam Deck. While the company hasn\u2019t followed up its 2015 wireless gamepad, peripheral company Hori has, in a way. The new $59.99 wireless Horipad that\u2019s up for pre-order at Amazon (launching Dec. 16) brandishes the Steam logo that doubles as a home button, and it\u2019s presumably the closest thing to a new Steam Controller we\u2019re going to get. Thankfully, it borrows some features you might recognize if you own a Steam Deck. Notably, its thumbsticks are capacitive like the Steam Deck\u2019s, meaning they know whether your thumb is resting on them or not. This trait allows you to program functions to the sticks…<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1027338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1027337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-polygon"],"yoast_head":"\nThere\u2019s a new Steam Controller in town, but Valve didn\u2019t make it | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The divisive Steam Controller was the testing ground for some ideas (touchpads, rear buttons, haptics) that eventually found their way onto Valve\u2019s Steam\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"There\u2019s a new Steam Controller in town, but Valve didn\u2019t make it | Arcader News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The divisive Steam Controller was the testing ground for some ideas (touchpads, rear buttons, haptics) that eventually found their way onto Valve\u2019s Steam\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-14T11:35:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"320\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"headline\":\"There\u2019s a new Steam Controller in town, but Valve didn\u2019t make it\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-14T11:35:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":375,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Polygon\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it\\\/\",\"name\":\"There\u2019s a new Steam Controller in town, but Valve didn\u2019t make it | Arcader News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-14T11:35:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"description\":\"The divisive Steam Controller was the testing ground for some ideas (touchpads, rear buttons, haptics) that eventually found their way onto Valve\u2019s Steam\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it.jpg\",\"width\":480,\"height\":320,\"caption\":\"There\u2019s a new Steam Controller in town, but Valve didn\u2019t make it\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"There\u2019s a new Steam Controller in town, but Valve didn\u2019t make it\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"description\":\"Free Arcade News from the Best Online Sources\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\",\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Arcade News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cricketgames.tv\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/author\\\/arcade-news\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"There\u2019s a new Steam Controller in town, but Valve didn\u2019t make it | Arcader News","description":"The divisive Steam Controller was the testing ground for some ideas (touchpads, rear buttons, haptics) that eventually found their way onto Valve\u2019s Steam","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"There\u2019s a new Steam Controller in town, but Valve didn\u2019t make it | Arcader News","og_description":"The divisive Steam Controller was the testing ground for some ideas (touchpads, rear buttons, haptics) that eventually found their way onto Valve\u2019s Steam","og_url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it\/","og_site_name":"Arcade News","article_published_time":"2026-01-14T11:35:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":480,"height":320,"url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Arcade News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Arcade News","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it\/"},"author":{"name":"Arcade News","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839"},"headline":"There\u2019s a new Steam Controller in town, but Valve didn\u2019t make it","datePublished":"2026-01-14T11:35:42+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it\/"},"wordCount":375,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it.jpg","articleSection":["Polygon"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it\/","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it\/","name":"There\u2019s a new Steam Controller in town, but Valve didn\u2019t make it | Arcader News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it.jpg","datePublished":"2026-01-14T11:35:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839"},"description":"The divisive Steam Controller was the testing ground for some ideas (touchpads, rear buttons, haptics) that eventually found their way onto Valve\u2019s Steam","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it.jpg","width":480,"height":320,"caption":"There\u2019s a new Steam Controller in town, but Valve didn\u2019t make it"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/theres-a-new-steam-controller-in-town-but-valve-didnt-make-it\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"There\u2019s a new Steam Controller in town, but Valve didn\u2019t make it"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/","name":"Arcade News","description":"Free Arcade News from the Best Online Sources","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839","name":"Arcade News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Arcade News"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/cricketgames.tv"],"url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/author\/arcade-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1027337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1027337"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1027337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1461856,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1027337\/revisions\/1461856"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1027338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1027337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1027337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1027337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}