The Verge first reported that peripheral manufacturer HORI will release an official Steam-branded controller in Japan on October 31. This is a Steam controller, but not a Steam controller. However, this is the first time Valve has licensed the Steam brand to a third-party hardware manufacturer since the quiet death of the unpopular Steam Machines.

Like so many beautiful things in this fallen world - the works of Vincent van Gogh, RPG powerhouse Troika Games, the 1995 film Johnny Mnemonic - the Steam controller was not appreciated in its time, only to receive a sad and bittersweet reappraisal later It was only to be. Sure, a second analog stick was necessary, and a rechargeable battery instead of two double-A's might have been better, but it was strange and new, and its software support ushered in a new era of customized gamepad controls on the PC.

The Wireless Horipad for Steam, on the other hand, looks like an acceptable but alternative-level mid-range budget controller; as The Verge notes, it is based on (and slightly upgraded from) Hori's Horipad Pro for the Xbox series. With Bluetooth wireless and programmable buttons, it's a few steps up from ultra-budget controllers like Logitech's F310. [It is worth noting, however, that Valve has dipped its toe back into Steam-branded hardware licensing. Valve's Steam Machines, a game studio-turned-tech company that partnered with companies like Alienware and Gigabyte to offer living room PCs that rivaled consoles, was famously aborted. Steam Deck is a handheld PC gaming and ushered in a new era of PC gaming, but competitors like ROG Ally are not bending the knee to buy into the unified Deck ecosystem.

Whether this is indicative of the company's future plans remains to be seen: Valve doesn't bet on losers, and even successful games and projects may not get the full support they expect. the Wireless Horipad for Steam is just a cheap PC It may be a gamepad, but Valve's tradition of failed hardware initiatives weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the living.