Valve has announced that some Steam Controller buyers will not receive their orders until 2027. The company has outlined its plans to meet demand for the device, with three estimated delivery dates for the new Steam Controller.
After a lot of rumors, the reveal of the Steam Controller for PC gamers was exciting. Gamers who pre-ordered the peripheral early were in luck as many have already received the controller. However, continued demand for the device has now led to a new announcement from Valve.
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Valve announces delays on current and future Steam controller orders
Valve shared the Steam Controller pre-order announcement, explaining that due to extreme demand, they wanted to manage expectations for arrival. Valve notes that it intends to continue manufacturing the device, but when comparing demand to how many units it expects to be able to produce, the company expects only some of the existing orders to ship in the second half of the year. Three order windows have been announced, September 2026, December 2026 and 2027, with no further details on what part of the coming year. Those who have already pre-ordered can check the Steam Controller page to see which release window they've been placed in. The sooner customers reserve the driver, the sooner they get to the window. Orders placed after June 18th are not expected to arrive until 2027 at the earliest, and Valve will provide updates as the timeline continues to narrow.
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The second Steam Controller was announced ten years after the release of the original one, which was discontinued back in 2019. Unfortunately, the timing of the reveal, which was made alongside the new Steam Machine and the first Steam Frame VR headset, probably couldn't have come at a worse time. Demand for previous releases from Valve, such as Steam Deck, has also been high. However, Valve currently has to deal with the pressure that the entire gaming industry is feeling due to the proliferation of AI data centers, which require a huge supply of chips and processors to run. As a result, all kinds of gaming hardware have faced shortages and rising prices, and Valve has not been unscathed by this trend.
While eager Steam Controller fans are probably disappointed to hear about this, they're still in luck when it comes to new releases. The full hardware lineup was expected to start arriving in early 2026, but due to the aforementioned demand for parts, the new Steam Machine and Steam Frame are not yet accepting reservations or pre-orders. Valve has said that both the Steam Machine and Steam Frame will ship sometime in the summer of 2026, but that could change. Pricing on the devices has also yet to be confirmed by Valve officials, further worrying those who intended to purchase them as soon as possible.
While fans may be tired of waiting, the good news is that Valve has not announced any plans to completely cancel the release of any of the three pieces of Steam hardware. For now, all players can do is wait for Valve to announce more details. With any luck, the prices for the Steam Machine and Steam Frame aren't too outrageous, considering the high cost of computing parts.
