Valve patents Steam Controller with swappable controls

Towards the end of last year, Valve officially discontinued the Steam Controller, but that doesn't mean that the project is entirely dead. In fact, new evidence of an updated Steam Controller came to light this week, thanks to a newly filed Valve patent.

The patent in question depicts a version of the Steam Controller with swappable controls, similarly to the Xbox Elite controllers. You would be able to swap out different style analogue sticks or D-Pads.

Here is the full description filed with the patent: “Described herein are, among other things, handheld controllers that include housings having one or more receiver portions for detachably coupling to one or more controls. For example, a housing of one such controller may include, on a front surface of the housing, a receiver that is configured to detachably couple to one or more joysticks, one or more D-pads, one or more track pads, one or more buttons, and/or the like. In some instances, a user may swap a first control for a second control based on a current application (e.g., game title) that the user is playing, based on comfort of the user, and/or for any other reason.”

Valve has not announced a second Steam Controller at this point in time, but the hardware team appears to be trying out new ideas.

KitGuru Says: Are there any changes or improvements you would like to see in a second Steam controller?

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