In late last year, Valve announced three pieces of new hardware, saying that it plans to bring out the products in early 2026 to PC gamers. However, with the rising issue of component shortages, the company has been quietly waiting without any pricing or release date confirmations. It seems there may be some announcements coming soon though, as a review of one of the releases has just leaked, and it may have just revealed the launch price of the new Steam Controller.
It"s unclear when the embargo for the hardware was supposed to lift, but a YouTube review of the Steam Controller had gone online earlier than intended. Before it was removed by the owner, the video had already been recorded and reuploaded (via VICE).
The biggest piece of information revealed on the video is the price of the controller, which is claimed to be $99.
For those unfamiliar with the new Steam Controller, it comes with two trackpads for playing mouse and keyboard games with ease, magnetic thumbsticks that shouldn"t fall prey to stick drift, haptics, gyro controls, an 8.39 Wh Li-ion battery, and a layout that should be familiar to Steam Deck owners.
In comparison, the standard Microsoft Xbox Wireless Controller comes in at $64.99, while the higher-end Elite Series 2 costs $199.99 for the complete package. On Sony"s side, the PlayStation 5 DualSense controller costs $74.99, with the upgraded Edge edition costing $199.99. If the leaked pricing is accurate, while high, Valve seems to be aiming for a middle ground between high-end and standard gamepads for the Steam Controller.
One thing to keep in mind is that, if reviews are already on the way, release dates for the new Valve hardware shouldn"t be far behind either. The company is also building the console-like Steam Machine with its Ryzen 6-core CPU, RDNA3 GPU, and 16GB RAM, as well as its next-generation VR headset with standalone gaming capabilities. It"s clear that these two products are what"s being hit with the component bottleneck.
Valve may be about to release the Steam Controller as a standalone device while holding back the Steam Machine and Steam Frame until it can move past the global memory and storage shortages.
As always, take leaks with a grain of salt until official announcements materialize from Valve about its new hardware.