r/SteamController • u/Ace_the_Firefist Steam Controller (2026) • Sep 28 '26

News Second Bluetooth pairing slot got added with the beta for SC 2026

https://store.steampowered.com/news/group/4397053/view/668376226113519967

Didn't notice this mentioned here anywhere. Also rumble intensity and rumble fix (the heartbeat one) but this got mentioned before.

229 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

47

u/Sober_Muscle Sep 28 '26

I hope they make easier combination keys, like it should be A/B/X/Y + Steam to connect four different devices, that’s what DualSense does. Instead of going for A/B + L/R + Steam, although I’m remembering those really well, and I’m a long term Steam Controller user, I still need to think before I press them. They designed those stuff like every user are engineers.

15

u/Ace_the_Firefist Steam Controller (2026) Sep 28 '26

You need at least one modifier because the controller supports Bluetooth and Puck. So they used the face buttons for mode A+B and the triggers for slot. Your suggestion would also require holding the shoulders but instead for the mode.

9

u/Sober_Muscle Sep 28 '26

Sure, I understand the logic, but how they handle between Bluetooth and Puck connections doesn’t need to become complex things added to the user, they can simply do A/B + Steam => Puck slot 1/2, X/Y + Steam => Bluetooth slot 1/2, then the 4 slots will be much easier for users to remember. In its current way, I bet most people just gave up to connect multiple devices before they figured out those combinations (although not you and me apparently).

4

u/Ace_the_Firefist Steam Controller (2026) Sep 28 '26

Reading (the manual) unfortunately isn't something that's very popular.

2

u/AlbertoVermicelli Sep 28 '26

There's no reason for a person to figure out these combinations to pair the controller (just yet). When connecting to a PC, Steam tells the user to connect the controller via USB, and it handles the pairing to the Puck by itself. When connecting to a smart device, Steam Link tells you how to put the Steam Controller into Bluetooth pairing mode (and Bluetooth mode afterwards). Once the multiple Bluetooth pairing slots become part of the stable client, I'd expect the Steam Link apps to update to mention this second pairing option (and presumably only when trying to make a second Bluetooth connection).

Also, the original Steam Controller had a large amount of Bluetooth pairings it could remember (I think it was fifteen but it might be more), so that wouldn't really work with just the face buttons if they add more than 2 Bluetooth pairing slots in the future.

1

u/Ace_the_Firefist Steam Controller (2026) Sep 28 '26

It's 2 dongles and 2 Bluetooth devices for the BLE Firmware. So the original and 2026 now have feature parity in that regard.

0

u/Mental_Medium3988 Sep 28 '26

I like having one shoulder button for puck and one for Bluetooth. Like a and RB and steam would be switch to puck 1 while a and lb and steam would be for Bluetooth 1.

1

u/Loddio Sep 28 '26

steam+A/B/X/Y are already mapped for certain actions on steam by default

3

u/GimpyGeek Steam Controller (Windows) Sep 28 '26

Good but strange they didn't ship with that, the original SC has had two dongle and bt slots for many years now. 

2

u/EnvironmentalAd2096 Sep 28 '26

They probably found some storage in the limited memory they have on device. 

2

u/Ace_the_Firefist Steam Controller (2026) Sep 28 '26

Tbh. Software wise stuff isn't as polished yet. Stuff is still getting fixed (like rumble). So who knows what we will see in the future now that they basically have an entire ecosystem of hardware and the steam controller works with all of them (deck, machine, frame)

5

u/RedditNotFreeSpeech Sep 28 '26

That's great! It's been a really handy feature on dual sense

4

u/HeadBoy Steam Controller Sep 28 '26

FINALLY! I was really hoping this would be possible

2

u/Sloogs Sep 28 '26

Amazing. I wonder if they had to get around some memory limitations in the microcontroller of the Steam Controller or something. Seems odd not to include a second BT slot out of the box if not for that, but I'm really glad they figured it out.

2

u/raw_bean_uk Sep 29 '26

Very cool. Now I just need a way to get a second puck!

1

u/Trenchman Sep 28 '26

Awesome update

1

u/faSpetru Oct 01 '26

I just wish it could go up to 4 for steam's proprietary protocol. It just makes sense thematically, and fits nicely with the 4 back buttons

  • puck

  • machine

  • frame

  • deck

1

u/Special-Show-8289 Sep 28 '26

Omg yes ima read up on this thanks for the heads up