The original Steam Controller went through countless iterations before Valve landed on a 2015 design that gradually began to resemble something more familiar to the Xbox controller or DualShock. Although it only had one joystick, for some reason.
One of these early prototypes – Chell, named after the protagonist of Portal – had two circular touchpads on either side with a grid in the middle lined with Y, B, X and A buttons. It's easy to see why Valve abandoned the concept, as it was far less ergonomic, with awkward button placement that would clash with anyone's muscle memory. Still, a few prototypes were made and a few lucky Valve enthusiasts found them in thrift stores over the years.
“I can agree that it's worse than the final product”
Just this weekend, Reddit user Waste-Set5032 came across one of these rare Steam controllers. “It's a drug for me,” they said, adding that their dad found it at a charity. “As a teenager, I wasn't near the top of Valve, so I'm really interested in finding things like that.” For anyone not in the States, Goodwill is a non-profit store that sells donated clothing, furniture, and other items at low prices.
Valve's idea with the Steam Controller was to create a more convenient computer peripheral with trackpads to make navigation easier. Even in the latest iteration, there are two awkwardly stuck under the joysticks.
Four years ago, Reddit user Creepy-Boss-705 also grabbed a Chell prototype in an eBay auction and even tested a few games with it.
“I'd say the strangest thing about this controller is the lack of data on its functionality [sic] after the retail version came out,” they explained, preferring touchpads for the Chell prototype compared to retail. “I'm still amazed that Steam even recognizes it. So far Steam thinks this is normal [Steam Controller]. The four middle buttons correspond to a joystick, so mapping them is not a problem, although strange to me. I can agree that it's worse than the final product, but I haven't really done much with anything that uses a gyro.”
Looking at the incredibly clunky knurled circles and unmarked buttons, it's hard to imagine that the controller is much more than a novelty – playing Dark Souls 2 with the official 2015 version was pretty painful. Chell looks like it would be functionally impossible to beat the game. But it's a piece of gaming history, so it's fascinating to see one floundering in the wild all these years later.
- Mark
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Valve
- Original release date
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September 12, 2003
- Original MSRP (USD)
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ON
- Weight
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ON
