After Valve first announced the new generation of Steam Controller last year, the player community has continued to pay attention to its launch progress. Earlier this week, Valve finally officially launched this new hardware, becoming the first officially released product in its latest wave of its own devices. However, this long-awaited launch did not bring a smooth purchasing experience. Instead, due to store abnormalities and stocks being emptied instantly, a large number of players complained, and some even failed to load the product page normally.
Valve cracks down on Steam Controller scalpers, launches pre-order system
Judging from the current situation, scalpers and automated buying tools seem to have played a large role in this chaos. Valve has obviously noticed the seriousness of the problem, so it announced a series of new purchasing measures today, hoping to improve the player purchasing experience during the next wave of restocks and prevent scalpers from hoarding as much as possible. Valve said in the announcement: “Steam Controller officially launched on May 4th. We are happy to see such high interest from players, but we also know that many players have a very unpleasant purchase process. We will continue to replenish the stock in the future, and also want to share the improvements we are making to improve the overall purchase experience and limit reseller activity.”
In order to avoid another “flash sale” and panic buying chaos, Valve will launch a new pre-order system at 10 a.m. Pacific time on May 8. As long as you are a qualified Steam user, you can make a reservation after the system is opened, and receive subsequent order notifications in accordance with the order of reservations. This means that players no longer need to stare at the page waiting for restocking, nor do they have to race with automated scripts. As long as they successfully reserve, they can queue up to purchase.
However, in order to prevent scalpers from taking advantage of the large number of new accounts to grab goods, Valve has also set several restrictions. First of all, the Steam account participating in the pre-order must have a purchase record before April 27, 2026, and the account must be in good condition with no abnormal transactions or violation records. Secondly, each user is limited to purchasing one Steam Controller, and payment must be completed within 72 hours after receiving the order notification, otherwise the spot will be automatically released to the next person in line. To avoid hoarding or repeated purchases, the first batch of players who have successfully purchased a Steam Controller will not be able to participate in pre-orders again. Valve also emphasized that this pre-order system will be applied to all subsequent replenishment batches until supply and demand stabilize.
Considering the popularity and confusion of Steam Controller this time, Valve may apply the same pre-order system to other upcoming hardware products in the future, such as Steam Machine and Steam Frame, which players are also highly concerned about. After all, these two devices have been highly anticipated since they were announced last year. If a more complete purchase process is not established in advance, it is very likely that this panic buying chaos will be repeated.
Overall, Valve responded very quickly this time and was willing to face up to the problem and adjust its strategy. Whether the new pre-order system can truly improve players’ purchasing experience remains to be verified in the next wave of restocks, but at least in terms of information transparency and fairness, Valve has taken an important step. For players who want to buy Steam Controller, the subsequent pre-order process should be much smoother than on the launch day.
Source: KOCPC Chinese