It seems that Valve has noticed the questioning reactions of both gamers and developers towards the less-than-traditional design of their Steam Controller, and they’re ready to make a change. The above image was tweeted by Steam Dev Days attendee TheIneQuation, revealing that Valve seems to have dropped the touch screen with four surrounding buttons of the original design, and has moved towards the more traditional ABXY layout that you see on most modern-day controllers. Interestingly, the controller also features an identical set of ABXY buttons on the left side of the controller, in lieu of a more traditional d-pad.
The above design is a 3D rendering and represents a work in progress, meaning that the controller’s design could be quite different the next time we see a physical prototype. Personally, I would prefer to stick with a more traditional controller with analog sticks, but the inclusion of tangible buttons in a familiar configuration does help to alleviate some of the worries I had with the previous design. I’m still as curious as ever to see where Valve goes with this design, and I can’t wait to try one out in person.
