Valve Steam Controller Update: New Availability and Purchasing Rules To Fight Scalping and Supply Issues (the queue is back!)
Posted by bad1o8o@reddit | hardware | View on Reddit | 66 comments
chip_thoughts@reddit
Honestly bringing back the queue system is probably the only fair solution now. Hardware launches in 2026 have turned into a war against bots and scalpers.
ThankGodImBipolar@reddit
I can't believe that people are even trying to scalp it. Scalping works when you're selling limited run products or things that are hard to produce, but the Steam Controller is neither of those things. What's the logic there? And, if people understand that, then why on earth would they buy a scalped one? It just doesn't make sense to me, and I don't expect the trend to continue.
GetsDeviled@reddit
You are trying to insert logic on a market that is based on feels.
My friend sold his Steam Controller for more than double the price before he had even received it.
I blame TikTok or cancer media in general for this irrational behavior. I don’t have proof or even strong arguments, but that app/s has turned everything into an “I need it now” mentality.
ThatActuallyGuy@reddit
With the crunch in manufacturing and supply chains, pretty much every major tech release has been successfully scalped since covid. It doesn't matter if it'll be available eventually as long as it's scarce right now, that's the opening for scalpers.
TripAtkinson@reddit
And people can’t tell themselves no.
EndlessBattlee@reddit
Scalpers only keep winning partly because people refuse to stop buying from them. Seriously, it’s not like anyone’s gonna die from not owning a controller on day one. But every time these lobotomite gamers panic buy from scalpers, they basically tell them "yeah keep doing this, it works."
People complain about scalping nonstop, yet the same consumerist drones turn around and hand over absurd amounts of money just because they can’t wait a few weeks. If people actually had some self-control and stopped rewarding scalpers, pretty sure this whole thing would die out fast.
3MU6quo0pC7du5YPBGBI@reddit
But if I wait a month or two I might forget I wanted it.
Then what? I wouldn't have a controller I didn't need at all?!
watnuts@reddit
You think that's scary?
You could've also not spend $200?
Think of the ~~children~~ economy!
d32dasd@reddit
> it’s not like anyone’s gonna die from not owning a controller on day one
In fact, I wish I had the Steamdeck non-OLED ver2 instead of the ver1, without the whiny fan that I ended up changing myself afterwards.
ThatActuallyGuy@reddit
In fairness to the people who buy from scalpers [though they're still dumb as rocks impatient manchildren], scalpers vastly extend the period of scarcity, it's part of their entire strategy. It was at least a year before you could walk into a store and buy a PS5, and that pretty much never happened with the RTX 3080. If your last console was a PS2 or you're on an ancient graphics card, then suddenly buying from scalpers looks a lot more appealing.
tassadaradun@reddit
May I draw attention to Graphics Cards during 2020- or toilet paper during 2020. Scalpers scalp and people get stupid and desperate, feeding the cycle.
Sure, you can wait two weeks and get one when supply is replenished, but, you REALLY want it now, and maybe scalpers will still horde the next bulk of the supply replenishment.
Scalping needs a prison and/or death sentence attached to it. Toxic Capitalism.
Ploddit@reddit
Unfortunately there are a lot of people with more money than brains or patience.
rolim91@reddit
No you release like 10% of the units first normally. Let the scalpers scalp then release the 90% after lol.
That way the availability is too much that then scalpers wasted their time and sell the units at a loss.
jammsession@reddit
Or just release 100%.
If the scalpers can sell over the original price, they did a good job and corrected the market.
If the scalpers can sell at the original price, they wasted time.
If the scalpers everestimated demand and have to sell at a lower price, they take a loss and we gamers profit from it.
Fascinating how we gamers seem to be unable to grasp first semester economics supply and demand curve.
RenlyHoekster@reddit
Ah, maybe it's fascinating that you don't grasp the fact that allowing a sclaper to buy up all the inventory at the normal market price so that he can then sell it for a much higher price is nolonger the normal market price - why not jsut have Valve sell all the controllers directly to a scalper, and then the scalper is the the reseller, right? Well, everything would cost 2x or 3x the price, yes? And that is not the fair market that Valve is selling to, which is why Valve is changing the terms of sale so that the market can't be manipulated like that.
jammsession@reddit
Depends.
If demand and supply are so off that gamers are stupid enough to pay 3x the price? Yes, then the price will be 3x.
If gamers can hold it in their pants, make informed decisions, have impulse control that is stronger than that of a 5-year-old, and don't buy above the suggested retail price? Then no.
glenn1812@reddit
Fascinated. I've been on reddit for a while and the comment you replied to may be the lowest iq one i've ever seen ever.
SupportDangerous8207@reddit
This kids is how you loose the right to trade onion futures
DoomsdayIsHere69@reddit
Shit opinion
_hlvnhlv@reddit
Found the scalper / anarcho capitalist
danglotka@reddit
The scalpers just return the item unopened
GN0K@reddit
That's still winning.
Successful_Ad_8219@reddit
The problem isn't the scalper. It's the person buying from the scalper. Let them buy it all up. Just don't buy it from them. Then they'll be forced to take a loss and this shit is over forever.
hackenclaw@reddit
Valve should have just auction it while it is limited but listed the official launching price.
Means anyone pays above MSRP is on their own will including bots/scalpers.
And eventually when the supply catch up auction price will eventually close to MSRP.
WankerBott@reddit
just bind the controllers to the account that purchases it for the first year
gomurifle@reddit
How do I become a scalper? Might as well since there seems to be no downside to the despicable act.
Sin_of_Avarice@reddit
Pretty sure that involves quitting your job, refusing to do any basic hygiene...oh, and one of the worst mindsets ever that can't grasp anything beyond your endless need to hoard anything that actual fans want so you can rip them off or bounce sales off your scalper buddies until you've successfully raised the market value by a few grand all while telling yourself you'll be be rich when you hoard sells...as you continue to spend nearly everything you make just to feed your new addiction.
Yes, I've delt directly with scalpers and this description is pretty damn accurate(sadly), and I did, in fact, have one that couldn't grasp that someone might not care if the product is slightly damaged because they have zero intention of reselling themselves and might actually just want the product for themselves to actually(gasp!) use it(the horror!).
FilteringAccount123@reddit
I guess they must have severely underestimated demand to not have done this to begin with.
Oh well, at least people who weren't fortunate enough to snag one won't have to be waiting months for restocks.
furculture@reddit
It is kind of weird that they didn't have one now, but they had one for the launch of the Steam Deck prior to it.
Vb_33@reddit
It's because this is just another steam controller, last one didn't sell so quickly.
kwirky88@reddit
They took deposits for the initial steam deck launch. Hopefully they do that with the frame and machine.
3MU6quo0pC7du5YPBGBI@reddit
They seemingly overestimated the demand for the original steam controller and were practically giving them away to clear stock. They probably over corrected the other way this time around.
DeliciousPangolin@reddit
Valve always produces their hardware in minuscule runs. The Index and the Steam Deck were out of stock for months at launch, and they've had issues with going out of stock periodically throughout their lives.
sojuz151@reddit
Imho the cleanest solution is to bump up the price by ~150 dollars and offer as much credit to the steam wallet
No_Corner805@reddit
I'm of the opinion this was intentional on Valves part. They wanted to guage interest in Steam hardware. So released a small portion of units they have on hand.
Okay - i'll remove the tinfoil hat now.
pnutnz@reddit
ok great, but why the fuck cant i get one in New Zealand!!
Baglayan@reddit
Sad, considering Gabe Newell used that place as his base of operations during Covid.
PicoFluffDerg@reddit
Wait seriously?
pnutnz@reddit
Yea valve hardware is pretty hard to get a hold of here with the exception of the deck.
They won't sell it here directly and previous things have been done through EB games or similar however we no longer have any EB games locations in country since recently and any purchasing has to be done via Australia now I believe.
Hopefully someone will pick up the steam controller and other incoming valve hardware to sell us but until then we would have to buy it from overseas and hope they ship it or use friends and relatives overseas to send it over for us.
Its 2026 wtf
Lincolns_Revenge@reddit
I wonder how much demand there will be for the Steam Frame at launch.
If it comes in low at like 799 USD I think the demand will be insane. But if it's more like 1,200 USD they may not even need a queue.
Stingray88@reddit
I think even if the Frame price is on the higher side there will be a lot more demand than people expect.
SimpleNovelty@reddit
I've been holding out on a VR kit from Valve since Deckward was "soon" 2 years ago. Even though it's going to be worse than a Pimax or something. The people willing to buy VR that isn't a Quest care a lot less about price.
Kyohaku_Chance@reddit
It might be worse for onboard gaming, but that's not a problem for an adult with a computer.
The eye tracking alone puts it far above other systems I've seen
kwirky88@reddit
Lots of quest owners are kids who don’t even have PCs. Steam users are assumed to have a pc at launch because they would have had to have bought steam games to buy hardware at launch.
anapoe@reddit
At this point even $1200 for a PC with decent gaming capability is on the lower end. That's what I spent on my HTPC refresh a year ago and it's definitely on the lower end (5600X + 7600).
SkyLovesCars@reddit
Didn't they say something about how it would cost less than the index?
ProtoMan0X@reddit
I wonder if there will be a barebones version with low internal storage, no controllers - to hit a "starting at" price point.
grendus@reddit
Honestly, if they release a "streaming only" frame I would buy it.
I still have a gen 1 Vive. I really need an upgrade that isn't a Quest 3.
kwirky88@reddit
In the interview gamers nexus had with the steam frame engineers the engineers mentioned heavy use of the ram just for streaming. The soc is probably slammed just by streaming, they said they had to make a lot of optimizations.
grendus@reddit
Well, that just adds another entry on the pile of reasons why I hate AI.
GODDAMN IT, LEAVE SOME RAM FOR THE REST OF US!
_hlvnhlv@reddit
The problem is that the SoC is necessary for the streaming part of it :/
I would also prefer something like Wigig, but it's not feasible as the headset is now
Prince_Uncharming@reddit
Hell I’d prefer a “stream only” Frame at this point. I’m going to exclusively use it paired to my PC as a (to my eyeballs) large format monitor. I don’t want to have to pay more to have local storage for some basic games.
grendus@reddit
I can understand what Valve is doing, because they want to compete with the Quest. And they also want to use it as a test bed for their x86->ARM translation layer for the Deck 2, since an ARM processor would be cheaper and have much better battery life
But yeah, especially if the RAM shortage is making it hard to get the Frame out at all, I would rather they release a streaming only version.
pythonic_dude@reddit
From my understanding, foveated rendering and streaming requires a certain level of hardware on the vr headset, so, back then before the shortages, it made a lot of sense to slightly increase the price and offer the extra capability.
_hlvnhlv@reddit
The index was 1k, and even then, they used to run out of them pretty frequently
PMARC14@reddit
The controller is the easy part tbh, but the frame and the steam machine are probably under significant reevaluation in this market.
kittymoo67@reddit
when does the queue go live?
smarlitos_@reddit
Just increase the price by $100. Make the manchildren cry.
Handsome_fart_face@reddit
Do real people actually want this? I have no interest in playing FPS games with a controller and my xbox controller is perfectly fine on the PC.
mayoforbutter@reddit
I'm going to love it. More buttons and better Linux compatibility
yofoalexillo@reddit
Even a queue can be manipulated. Just ask FIFA (fuck FIFA)
gumol@reddit
does Valve have an incentive in manipulating the queue?
yofoalexillo@reddit
Valve shouldn’t but scalpers do. I would hope Valve had a system that prevents a bunch of scalper bits. I was referring to user-end manipulation
SomeGirlIMetOnTheNet@reddit
iirc valve restricts getting into the queue to previously active steam accounts
yofoalexillo@reddit
I mean that should stop mass scalping but it sure ain’t stopping it as a whole.
Masterpiecepeepee@reddit
I doubt steam ran out of contolers considering how few actually shipped out. They notice new accounts buying in mass and pulled the plug on the launch. They new scalpers were gaining the system to buy up as much stock as possible. Steam being steam, recognized what was happing and pulled the launch within an hour to preserve what stock they had left.
May 8th you can join the queue for the controler. My guess is they are using the queue as a way to weed out scalpers. In the digital world the first come first serve rull does not help the actual customer. My guess is they have stock of controllers but are using the queue system as a way review accounts for possible scalpers. Things like, how long and what kind of acrivity is on the account, log in locations, shipping address, how many units are try to be ordered, multiple account either using the same I.P or shipping locations, and how they pay can be used as red flag indicators. The biggest red flag is how new the account is. If the account was just created and is order a single unit, the account should be flagged and the order should be set to the lowest priority. While the accounts that have very consistent activity, fully developed profiles, and consistent login I.Ps should get priority because those are steams honest customers.
I guess I will find out when I go to queue up for the order. If I get the order confirmation quickly, say 1-3 days, that means they are definitely using the queue to filter possible illegal activity.