Briefly: The Steam Controller and Index had been amongst Valve’s most well-known items of {hardware} earlier than the corporate’s handheld popularized a brand new phase of PCs. Current leaks counsel Valve is getting ready to revisit its earlier merchandise, as renders reveal substantial management format and type issue adjustments.
Knowledge miners have uncovered particulars on an in-development follow-up to the Steam Controller and a pair of controllers for Valve’s beforehand leaked standalone headset. The merchandise might enter mass manufacturing within the coming months. EOZ VR XR challenge supervisor Brad Lynch shared code and renders found within the SteamVR consumer, indicating the 2 controllers are in a late stage of growth.
Valve’s ibex (steam controller 2) and roy controllers simply leaked. There’s varied variations of the roy controllers.
– Pavel Djundik (@xpaw.me) November 26, 2024 at 6:01 PM
The brand new Steam Controller, codenamed “Ibex,” resembles the Steam Deck’s management format in an Xbox-like type issue. Whereas the unique Steam Controller sacrificed the normal directional pad and proper analog follow accommodate its modern trackpads, the successor reverses these compromises and shifts them beneath the sticks.
Roy mannequin appears very Steam Deck proportioned afaict, very good pic.twitter.com/o6yCrYjdl7
– Shiny Quagsire (@ShinyQuagsire) November 27, 2024
An AR overlay of Venture Codename Roy on prime of a Steam Deck for reference
Valve’s first try at enhancing couch-bound PC gaming was an intriguing product however noticed solely modest industrial success. The corporate discontinued the gadget in 2019 however just lately licensed a extra conventional gamepad from Hori. A direct successor to the Steam Controller may fulfill customers who missed out on the unique.
In the meantime, the brand new VR controllers, codenamed “Roy,” appear a lot smaller than the Valve Index controller and carefully resemble Steel Quest 3 controllers. A number of design phases have emerged, however what seems to be the ultimate mannequin options the complete suite of buttons, sticks, bumpers, triggers, and grips anticipated of any customary gamepad. In distinction with the Quest 3 controllers, Valve added a directional pad and moved all 4 face buttons to the righthand controller.
Some fast renders of the controllers pic.twitter.com/FnypAbQLbt
– Down (@Down_90) November 26, 2024
Roy is the primary concrete proof of Valve’s future VR plans since references to a standalone headset codenamed “Deckard” appeared in a driver file in 2021. Particulars on the challenge are scarce, however a latest leak revealed that Valve’s curiosity in Arm on Linux has invited hypothesis that the Index successor could be an Arm gadget. Deckard’s possibilities of coming to market appeared ambiguous three years in the past, however Roy’s emergence means that Valve is actively getting ready to launch the headset.
The Steam Deck has just lately eclipsed the Steam Controller and Valve Index within the public consciousness, which impressed a brand new wave of handheld gaming PCs and dramatically improved Linux gaming. Nevertheless, Valve does not plan to iterate on the Steam Deck till a big efficiency enhance turns into doable with out sacrificing battery life, which could take years.
Picture credit score: Down
