Valve’s Steam Box consoles weren’t the runaway success that the gaming giant hoped they’d be, but the accompanying Steam Controller still stands out as a truly innovative gamepad design. However, the time has come for it to ride off into the sunset, and Valve is now clearing out the last production run of the controllers for just $7 on the Steam Store—plus the cost of shipping.
First revealed back in 2013, the Steam Controller bucked the dual analogue stick trend that companies like Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo used on their controllers in favour of a pair of vibrating haptic trackpads that purportedly offered as much precision as a mouse and keyboard—minus the need for a desk to play on.
That partnered with extreme customisability and the ability to save profiles for every game meant that players who preferred PC gaming could more easily transition to playing their favourite titles on the couch in front of a TV, while still feeling competitive.
From its reveal to its release, the design of the Steam Controller underwent quite a few evolutions, and it eventually gained a set of traditional action buttons and an analogue joystick before it reached consumers. And while the Steam Machines never really took off, the Steam Controller managed to stick around for quite a few years as an excellent peripheral for Valve’s game streaming devices, and even for the Steam Link app on iOS and Android smartphones.
If you’re a collector of dead tech—the window is officially closing on grabbing a Steam Controller that’s still mint in the box. They’re all over eBay, of course, but you won’t find one for just $7 that’s in perfect condition.