Valve’s new Steam Controller sells out on launch day

If you were hoping to snag a Steam Controller today, you may be out of luck already. Valve’s new PC gamepad went on sale and then promptly sold out in about 30 minutes, though it has been intermittently flashing in and out of stock since.

The Steam Controller is Valve’s second try at a PC gamepad following its first attempt in 2015. The new model adapts the Steam Deck’s haptic trackpads to a more traditional gamepad form factor and adds new features like Grip Sense, a new touch-activated gyro control method. Last week, Valve announced that the Steam Controller would be available to order from Steam today, May 4, for $99.

The demand turned out to be high. After going on sale at 1 p.m. EDT, some users reported that they were met with Steam errors citing a “high volume of purchase requests.” Others were able to get as far as Steam’s payment method screen, but were hit with errors that prevented them from locking in their transaction. Around 30 minutes later, the Steam Controller page listed the product as “out of stock.”

Image: Valve via Polygon

You may still have a chance to grab one if you haven’t already. Users have reported that the Steam Controller has intermittently been coming back into stock since initially selling out. We were able to confirm this around 2:40 p.m. EDT, when we refreshed the page and were able to click the order button. That didn’t get us very far. The next page wouldn’t load, and the controller was out of stock again on refresh. If you’re hoping to get one, keep an eye on the Steam Controller page throughout the day just in case.

Polygon reached out to Valve to confirm when it plans to restock the Steam Controller. We will update this story when we receive a response.

There’s a good reason that the Steam Controller is a hot commodity. In my review, I noted that it was a near-perfect PC gamepad. Despite some limitations to its connectivity, the haptic trackpads and surprisingly comfortable ergonomics make the Steam Controller a great companion for anyone looking for a go-to PC controller.