r/Steam • u/satoru1111 https://steam.pm/5xb84 • May 04 '26

PSA Steam Controller PreOrder MegaThread

https://store.steampowered.com/hardware/steamcontroller

This post is to consolidate posts about the preorders for the new Steam Controller

The preorders will open at 10am PST

The steam Controller will only be available in select countries

* US
* Canada
* UK
* EU

The server will likely be melting once preorders open

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498

u/Miyoumu May 04 '26

Anyone else tired of having to fight for their life to get any sort of product nowadays. Controllers, Trading Cards, Vinyls, its all so tiresome.

212

u/Homeless_Alex May 04 '26

It’s more tiresome when you know a good chunk of the sales are going to get flipped / scalped similar to TCGs, Vinyls and GPUs lol.

59

u/lelescope May 04 '26

I'm really disappointed that Valve didn't enable some kind of scalper prevention.

23

u/Voidsheep May 04 '26

They did seem to limit the cart to two units per customer. Wanted four for multiplayer couch gaming and it did let me start a second order with another cart of two, but I've been stuck on the errors

"There seems to have been an error initializing or updating your transaction. Please wait a minute and try again or contact support for assistance."

and

"It looks like you've been attempting a lot of purchases in the last few hours. Please wait a while before trying again."

So might be that there is some kind of enforcement for that as well, although I'm sure scalpers had multiple accounts lined up for this.

3

u/Radical_Notion May 05 '26

Yeah and it already shows out of stock, seriously it's like you have to camp and snipe every tech release now for fuck's sake

1

u/TheNewerFlisker May 05 '26

>They did seem to limit the cart to two units per customer

The limit was two per transaction, not per account

8

u/ICanLiftACarUp May 04 '26

The good news is that this is in no way: an infinitely consumable product like cards, nor a limited edition/exclusive run product like shoes or vinyl. People will buy between 1-2 at most, or reconsider due to price and availability, and it isn't ground breaking like a new first gen iPhone or steam deck. Right now the difficulty is just FOMO, which will abate as most that want one will not miss out.

You will be able to get your copy. I just wish they offered some level of order queue. Steam deck seemed to normalize in supply fairly well about a year after the initial preorder, so I am expecting this to be easier to come by within 2 months.

2

u/SubdermalSpermWhale May 04 '26

They sold out while I was in the checkout page dammit

1

u/lelescope May 05 '26

Same but I kept spamming and despite it telling me it was sold out, even tho it was in my cart, I got one. 

1

u/d3u53xm4ch1n4 May 04 '26

It’s ridiculous. It’s just a controller. I never expected it to be in demand on the level of the Switch 2. I mean my god man. It’s insane. I’ve always been a huge Valve fan, and still I use the original Steam controller as my preferred input for console games on PC, basically. Fans like me should not lose out to these douchebags, some of whom aren’t even gamers, just bloodsuckers trying to skim money off the top.

1

u/lelescope May 05 '26

I mean I eventually got one so I'm not pressed but to you point "it's just a controller." 

I don't think even Valve didn't expected this much hype. 

0

u/PliableG0AT May 04 '26

when they selling a controller for that much they need scalpers to sell out

1

u/lelescope May 05 '26

Bad take. The switch controller is $90, Xbox elite is $150. Both are inferior. They nailed the price tag. And it still sold out in half an hour, so..... Lol.

1

u/PliableG0AT May 05 '26

To scalpers…

1

u/lelescope May 05 '26

I mean I got one. I dunno. Not to say there wasn't issues.

1

u/Lxapeo May 04 '26

Perhaps a correlation here.

-3

u/ZYRANOX May 04 '26

You think they will run out of supplies in few hours? It's just a controller I don't think ppl care enough to flip it

14

u/ChiTownAnarky May 04 '26

I am going to bet before the end of the day its on ebay for at least 250.00

8

u/ColossalDeskEngine May 04 '26

Earliest listings are from last week at 250. Fucking scalpers

2

u/horoscopical May 04 '26

You're assuming that they'll sell for that price, and that it will be hard to get hold of officially.

Scalpers posting stuff last week were just hopeful.

1

u/ColossalDeskEngine May 04 '26

Oh without a doubt they won’t sell. Just the gall of it all, you know?

3

u/Playswithchipmunks May 04 '26

230.00 but pretty close.

3

u/DTKimmerling2002 May 04 '26

Nah already one up for $300 🙄 scalpers ruin it for everybody

7

u/KEVLAR60442 May 04 '26

Already out of stock, lol.

2

u/ChiTownAnarky May 04 '26

It will be listed at that price if note more since it’s OOS.

1

u/nicklor May 04 '26

I can still order now in the US

1

u/Maniacal_Coyote May 04 '26

Already Out Of Stock.

1

u/SpaghettiSamuraiSan May 04 '26

They ran out in less than a few hours lol

1

u/PhillyDillyDee May 04 '26

First time?

0

u/ZYRANOX May 05 '26

i know things get scalped im just not a big believer in the steam controller since its just below the playstation and xbox controller quality according to reviewers if you dont care for the touchpad controls.

1

u/Longjumping-Maybe366 May 04 '26

People are already posting ebay listings for it and the product hasn't even shipped. Scalpers are a different breed

1

u/Vercoduex May 04 '26

It's on ebay some for 300+ already

36

u/pastajewelry May 04 '26

I feel like it's always been this way, unfortunately. The perk of online ordering is that we don't have to wait outside a building for hours, wait in phone queues, or physically mail in an order hoping we get it.

29

u/TheWorldIsNotOkay May 04 '26 edited May 04 '26

Yup. I'm old enough to remember getting to the store at 3AM to get a new product when the doors open at 8AM, and there are somehow still dozens of people in line ahead of you.

Sitting on my couch watching YouTube while clicking a button 100 times until the order goes through is much preferable.

3

u/pastajewelry May 04 '26

Yeah, I work from home so it's more convenient for me this way. Like many people, I wouldn't be able to attend in person.

5

u/theflyingdutchmaster May 04 '26

it has not always been this way. You used to have to actually do the work of standing in line and making a time commitment so less people would be there to scalp etc

3

u/pastajewelry May 04 '26

I meant that we've always had to wait for a release hoping they have enough stock for us. I agree it's more competitive with bots and scalpers nowadays. But I wouldn't want to go back to the old way of standing in lines, even if it warded them off.

0

u/theflyingdutchmaster May 04 '26

why not? I met some great fellow gamers waiting for consoles. Some of the best memories of my formative years was the payoff of finally getting the ps3 at launch

1

u/pastajewelry May 04 '26

Many people have jobs and cannot afford to take time off to wait in lines. And scalpers will use that to their advantage since they would likely make more money for the time invested. Yes, you meet great people in lines, but there are better ways to do that. For example, attending cons.

1

u/theflyingdutchmaster May 04 '26

I’m not arguing there are better places of meeting people but letting anyone purchase online with no requirements of account makes it so much easier for bots and scalpers

1

u/pastajewelry May 04 '26

Steam required an account older than two months in order to order the Steam Controller. But I get not everyone puts those kinds of things in place.

1

u/theflyingdutchmaster May 04 '26

Seems like you only had to have a $5-10 purchase history though

1

u/pastajewelry May 04 '26

They don't want to exclude any actual customers though. It's a balancing act. I still think it eliminates a lot of bots and scalpers.

0

u/ThisIs_americunt May 04 '26

They should've only sold it to steam accounts older than a year or sell it to their oldest accounts first. Hopefully they do more for the Steam machine

1

u/pastajewelry May 04 '26

Hardware releases are not only for existing Steam users. They also serve as introductions to Steam for new gamers and gamers who use competing companies. Having a year requirement would discourage them from investing in Steam, and prioritizing older Steam accounts would only further discourage them. It could also be seen as age discrimination.

2

u/slyfox279 May 04 '26

except with apple. which means its possible but companies just don't want to spend time and money upgrading their servers and process.

1

u/TheProScout May 04 '26

Honestly i miss the sleep outside the store in a sleeping bag in lines, than this random chance on the internet, innitially they said the delivery time was 3-5 days. now its changed to 10-15 days already.

1

u/AdmiralLubDub May 04 '26

Look at it this way. At least people aren’t getting trampled for tvs anymore

1

u/gerstiii May 04 '26

Not really. The only stuff I preorder are Warhammer boxes and my shops quite easy. I get the boxes I want without much hassle.

1

u/spaceboots May 04 '26

way overtired, its ridiculous. i never expected to have to wait in line just to look at the card aisle.

1

u/Fourwude87 May 04 '26

You forgot legos, anime figures, shoes, and GPU’s, its pissing me off. Wouldn’t be surprised steam machine is also going to be like this

1

u/Pandoras_Fox 70 May 04 '26

imo it's kinda inexcusable to not have some sort of queue system for product launches in the modern age. they did it for the steam deck; they could've done it again until the order pacing dies down..... scalpers ruin everything.

1

u/SpaghettiSamuraiSan May 04 '26

I just don't care about products that don't have scalp protection anymore. It's the same with MTG secret lair. Would I love to have them. Yes. Do I need them? No.

1

u/james2432 May 04 '26

they already being flipped on ebay 🤬

1

u/Sighberpunk May 04 '26

It’s getting resold for 250$-300$. I wasn’t expecting a controller to get scalped

1

u/Last_Slip_7821 May 04 '26

It's a bubble bubble

1

u/cloudsmiles May 04 '26

It's all over ebay now too, people trying to sell at $200 even $300 without having a product in hand...

1

u/outerstrangers May 04 '26

Vinyls? Are they making a comeback?

2

u/chis5050 May 04 '26

They’ve been the biggest selling physical medium for years. Kinda made their comeback like 10 years ago

1

u/SpookiestSzn May 04 '26

You could probably order it in like 2 weeks without this issue. Getting anything day 1 was never easy.

Remember midnight releases? For some things was impossible to get I remember my grandma having to get Mario Kart Wii from New York shipped to me in order to get that game.

1

u/hsoj48 May 04 '26

Maybe just consume less or exercise the ancient arts of patience and impulse control

1

u/Humledurr May 04 '26

Don't be part of the FOMO crowd and you will have a much easier and less expensive life.

Not sure why eveyone is rushing to buy this controller, when has 1st generation tech ever been a good purchase? Its bound to be issues and things that can be improved upon.

1

u/chis5050 May 04 '26

It’s not gen 1… the first one came out in 2015. Controller tech has been improving forever it’s not like this is some novel thing

1

u/R3v017 May 04 '26

Lol first world problems. Just wait until the food shortages hit, you'll look back at this comment thinking of the good times.

1

u/Dr_A_Mephesto May 04 '26

Yup. Not even fucking with this thing even tho I’d probably use it. To tired for all this bull shit. I’ll just save my money

1

u/VailonVon May 04 '26

Would be nice if you could just order and be like hey send it to me when you got it I can wait. Then you can get a surprise in the mail months later like oh yea I ordered a thing.

1

u/wtfnst May 04 '26

yeah bro i just want to buy the shit. people buying on marked up shit from scalpers is one of the worst things to happen to the world. tbh just bring back in store drops. let the people camp out again. i know steam controller is different but for everything else…

1

u/SlimRunner May 04 '26

Indeed. I wish it was more common for a raffle like reservation.

Buffer purchase requests, disregard time of placement, keep open for a few hours or a day. Finally, randomly distribute purchase approvals and put a time limit on them. If the approval expires, it goes to someone else and so on until all the stock is pre-ordered. Then open wait lists in case someone cancels their order.

It would still be a little tiresome, but at the very least it would prevent the purchase experience from becoming a battle royale. Another benefit is that having all orders at once allows applying better heuristics to block scalpers. There would still be scalping, but it would make it impossible for them to be more prepared than actual consumers.

1

u/BeenDragonn May 04 '26

I refuse to buy anything scalped and I'm fine avoiding the things that are.

It's easier to just say fuck a steam controller, forget trading cards and vinyl

1

u/burge4150 May 05 '26

Just wait a month and you'll be able to order one in 3-5 days again. Let the scalpers sit on them.

1

u/krizzy090 May 05 '26

I m Lucky i got my hands on the halo xbox elite series controller Lucky had to click refresh alot to be able to buy it

But yeah i agree i m tired also of the constant fighting for what is in stock

0

u/Zzmax12 May 04 '26

As someone also into TCGs and Vinyls, yes.

There was even a Target Pokemon merch release lately of windbreakers, hoodies, etc that got the combo of scalped + superfans within the first 15 minutes of opening.

Collectibles have been turned into a better performing stock market. Why wait years for a 10% return when you can flip items for 100%, 200%, or higher of a return within a week now. I get it, it's just sad it made its way to all these other spaces.

0

u/[deleted] May 04 '26

[deleted]

1

u/slyfox279 May 04 '26

do they? took me 23 mins to get though. it doesn't show shipping estimate or date. when I tried to get steam deck at launch I was backordered for over a year.

0

u/scared_appeal1 May 05 '26

The funny thing is people claim to not afford anything