Steam has seen a significant increase in users playing games with a controller. However, not all games have proper controller support. To address this issue, Steam will soon start showing you whether a game supports Xbox, DualShock, or DualSense controllers.
Valve has released a new update on Steam Community. The notice has asked developers to specifically show the list of controllers supported by a particular game. Steam says that this new change will help users identify games easily, based on their controller preference.
Steam Can Now Tell You if a Game Supports Playstation Controllers
Steam has created a new questionnaire for game developers that asks them to declare the list of all supported controllers. Earlier, Steam would only show whether a game supports complete controller support or partial controller support.
With this new change, users will now be able to clearly see whether the game supports Xbox controllers or Sony’s DualSense and DualShock PlayStation controllers. Since this option will be visible directly on the Steam Store, gamers will also be able to make purchase decisions more wisely.
Steam says that the option to view controller support will be live for all games starting from October 2023. The company has urged game developers to declare controller support for games on priority. Steam has also said that it will not assume controller support based on its own, making game developers the only party responsible for declaring controller support on a game-to-game basis.
Steam will also show the list of games with controller support directly in a user’s Steam Library. This change will be visible on the Steam Desktop Client. The platform will specifically show whether a game in your library supports Xbox or Sony’s controllers.
Steam also has a Controller Friendly section on its online store. Here, users are directly able to pick games that support a game controller by default. Currently, Baldur’s Gate 3 and FIFA 23 are the top controller-supported games on Steam with over 500K active players.
Steam Saw A Surge in Controller Users
Steam said that in 2018, 11% of total users were playing games using a controller. However, the number of controller users has increased to a massive 27% in 2023. Steam says that controllers are getting more popular than ever, and the company values the preferences of its customers.
Since 2017, Steam has seen over 87 million users playing games with a controller. The company says that the majority of these users were playing with an Xbox controller, but the number also included 25% of users with a Sony PlayStation controller.
Steam is also helping game developers with some APIs to add controller support to games. The company also has a platform called Steam Input Gamepad Emulation to aid game developers in implementing APIs for game controllers. Steam has been encouraging developers to add controller support, to reach to wider audience.
