Wait, the Steam Controller 2 is in mass production? Someone grab the popcorn because nothing brought out the strong opinions like Valve's first controller
The original Steam Controller, which has been defunct now for half a decade, had a rocky history. Well, perhaps not so much rocky as controversial, it having a plethora of diehard fanboys and fangirls but also more than a smattering of detractors, including our very own hardware overlord Dave James. Now—someone shield Dave's ears—there's talk of a second iteration already being in mass production.
Valve boffin and leaker Brad Lynch shared on X (via The Verge) that, in addition to a VR controller, the Steam Controller 2, codenamed «Ibex» is «being tooled for a mass production goal in their factories right now» and «that's why I know they're in later stages of production.»
Codename for Steam Controller 2 is “Ibex”Separate product from Deckard’s “Roy” controller(s)Both are being tooled for a mass production goal in their factories right now. That’s why I know they’re in later stages of productizationNovember 19, 2024
Presumably by «their factories» Brad means Valve's factories, given both are Valve products. This would possibly shed some light on whether the Steam Controller 2 would be produced in-house or with help from a third party, something which—along with everything else about the Steam Controller 2—has remained unclear.
We first heard about a second Steam Controller back in 2022 when Steam Deck designer Lawrence Yang stated «yeah, we want to make it happen. It's just a question of how and when.»
If this rumour's true, it looks like that «when» might be very soon.
The original Steam Controller ran for a fair few years up until 2019 when it was discontinued. During its lifespan, it had an ardent following of dedicated proponents espousing the benefits of the controller's versatile design: two trackpads, gyro movement, and back-paddles. Using custom configs, the controller, these proponents argued, allowed you to play mouse-and-keyboard games much easier than a standard controller does.
One problem, however, was that there were no official baseline profiles, so
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