I am patient. I will wait.
If I were Valve I’d put out a statement just to fuck with them.
An issue was found in the current product and a new version of the Steam Controller will launch within days. Please be patient as stocks are restored.
Then a new version of it appears which is an identical controller that says FUCK SCALPERS on the underside
Why wouldn’t they limit the number of controller you can by with one account, if scalpers are really the issue here
I saw an interview of two valve employees who said that the reason the controller took so long to come out was them wanting to make sure they had enough stock among some other things.
So I reckon they either didn’t expect to sell such a massive volume in such a short amount of time or have means to quickly restock
I literally do not give a shit about scalping game controllers. Or, as my two friends who were thinking about getting one said when I mentioned it had sold out: “oh well.”
It might be a nice controller, but how desperate can you be buying it from a scalper knowing it’ll be back in stock soon?
And paying $300 for the controller, while knowing it will be back in stock soon
I’m sure there’s a few people that don’t care about money, but no one else wants this controller that bad
People are abaolutrly weird like that. Back in the day i read online that americans don’t protest, because they can’t afford to not go to work a day. At the same time, a new iphone was released and people camped in front of a apple store.
Different groups of people. Being unable to miss work is a real thing for many Americans.
All the more reason for them to protest.
Hope all the scalpers lose money.
I managed to get one but I also checked resale sites in my area and was happily surprised to see that there’s yet to be a single one up for resale by a scalper.
That being said, I did see someone trying to resale the OG Steam Controller for $250 which is hilarious considering all the other listings for it are between $30-100.
An article about a reddit post blaming scalpers…
Demand was high, so it sold out. There are definitely scalpers but the percentage of real buyers is probably way higher.
Without hard numbers it’s all speculation either way.
True but if you look on eBay there aren’t nearly enough postings as to suggest scalpers grabbed all of them.
In my region, I managed to get it about 90 min after the launch. I had to click continue 100 times, then put the baby to sleep, and click for anther 200 times, but managed.
then put the baby to sleep
For a second there, I thought Steam had implemented a weird new CAPTCHA.
“To prove you’re a human, live a fulfilling life”
This success is a good news for gaming.
You know what can’t be scalped? Open source: https://inputlabs.io/
You wouldn’t download a controller…
But they are just as sold out
That’s Alpaka 0, Alpaka 1 seems to be in stock.
And gamers, the group of consumers known for their patience, will wait for the stock to be refilled in a month or so rather than making the scalpers worth their efforts.
News about scalpers is the same as rage bait local news articles. I just don’t care. If it’s a problem write a real piece about it with potential solutions. The companies don’t seem to see a problem so I assume everything is going as planned.
I didn’t see that coming actually. I love my steamdeck but I felt that the price for this controller was a bit to high. But it’s great to see valve succeeding here, they make great stuff.
In the Year of Our Lord J-Town 2026, a hundred dollars doesn’t seem bad at all for a premium controller. Xbox Elite is $150-$200 depending on “sale” price, DualSense Edge is $200. Hell, a pair of regular-ass JoyCons for the Switch 2 is $100.
Yea, that might be true. But the normal playstation and xbox controllers are still quite a bit cheaper, and personally I don’t really use the gyro and trackpad features.
I think it’s just a bad fit for me, but a good fit for a lot of other people.
I don’t get this argument, a new Dualsense is $75 with potentiometer sticks that will drift, replacement Hall effect sticks are about $15. So for $90 you can get a Dualsense with Hall effect sticks that you have to solder so you run the risk of bricking the controller. For $9 more you get the Steam controller with all the extra buttons and customizability with Steam Input and TMR sticks out of the box.
I keep repeating this every time scalping comes up: The best way to turn a scalper into a bag holder is to not buy what they’re peddling.
You are asking gamers, the least scrupulous set of consumers on the face of the earth, to demonstrate patience.
I’d say drug addicts are one place higher on that list…but only one…
Somewhere above the average weed addict but below the average opiate or meth addict. People who like weed (me) can get to be pretty picky about that stuff.
Second best would be manufacturers auctioning off their early delivery themselves and selling units for the regular price to confirmed loyal customers.
That would encourage scalpers doing it more often. I don’t think a company should pay scalpers “ransom” like that and reward them. The better option would be try to avoid them.
How does it encourage scalpers? Buyers will outbid scalpers because scalpers need to make a profit.
Oh wait, I totally misunderstood you. Actually that’s not a bad idea to auction it themselves too. I guess the ebay middleman would complicate things further for Valve and even more costly. Maybe for the first 2 weeks or so until enough stock is there.
Steam in particular has some interesting options. They could make it so that, during the first couple of weeks, you need an active Steam account that’s at least a year old to buy a controller, and you get a maximum of two per Steam account.
There’s lots they could do to make sure they are sold to as many legitimate customers as possible.
The question is, how do you manage it without pissing some people off? I dont think the scalpers are that big of a deal, there’s never thousands of them, I bet the percentage of sold controllers going to scalpers is pretty low.
Scalpers put the items multiple times to ebay, with the intention to make the general price high, and also giving a “cheaper” option that looks like a deal. Even if its still higher than the original price. Getting the controller for 220 sounds like you got a good deal if most other sell it for 400. And there will always be people with more money in their pocket than the rest, who do not care what effects it has when purchasing it from the scalpers.
The problem is that there are way too many people to whom $300 is pocket change and perpetuating exploitation does not bother them.
Simple. eat the rich
See also: scalp the rich
