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cunningmunki t1_j0dj8zw wrote

Reply to comment by FlatulentWallaby in Valve answers our burning Steam Deck questions — including a possible Steam Controller 2 by retroanduwu24

It's pretty standard for manufacturers to clear stock from storage when they're about to launch new hardware.

But please, do share your source on the Steam Controller's "poor" sales.

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goodnames679 t1_j0e4cta wrote

hey I loved the steam controller and still have two, but that's definitely not what happened - Valve discontinued the Steam Controller after only 4 years and sold off stock for $5 a piece, then proceeded to not launch any new comparable products for a long while.

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StarGaurdianBard t1_j0f5x2f wrote

They sold it for $5 years before the steam deck released. It was basically its normal price too considering they made it $5 during every sale possible.

Don't get me wrong, I loved them and own a couple even still, but it's a bit disingenuous to claim it was to get rid of stock before the Steam Deck' release when it was discontinued 3 years before the Steam Deck and started going on sale for $5 a whole ass 6 years before the steam deck lol

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FlatulentWallaby t1_j0djuww wrote

About to launch new hardware? Where's that new controller 3 years later?

"Out of nearly 60 million controllers, the Xbox 360 gamepad was the most prevalent by a very large margin (27.2 million), with the PS4 Dualshock and the Xbox One controller in second (12.2 million) and third place (11.5 million), respectively. On the other hand, it seems only about 1.5 million players registered Steam Controllers, just barely putting the total ahead of the rest of PC-specific gamepads — and the controller had been on the market for three years at that point."

So, there's your poor sales.

https://thenextweb.com/news/steam-controller-valve-discontinued

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cunningmunki t1_j0dly3g wrote

The new hardware was the Steam Deck you tit.

Also, of course the SC wasn't going to sell as much as the main console's controllers, that's not a measure of success. Use your head ffs.

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FlatulentWallaby t1_j0dmmdu wrote

You realize that's like saying apple gave away their stock of iphones before releasing a new MacBook right? What a stupid response.

I show you poor sales and your response is to say you were talking about a device that has nothing to do with a standalone controller? You're really stretching to try and be right when you're objectively wrong.

What's the measure of success then? How many units should they have sold to be considered a success?

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cunningmunki t1_j0ds9xv wrote

"objectively wrong" that always makes me chuckle.

Look, you're clearly quite young so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. When it comes to hardware, Valve are not Apple. And neither are they Microsoft or Sony.

They've only ever sold three (or four if you count the dock) bits of hardware which means their manufacturing, sourcing, storage, supply chain and logistics are small fry compared to the console hardware giants. I worked in inventory management and supply chain for a few years so I have some experience, and I've seen lots of expensive hardware, that sold very well, discounted to next to nothing. There comes a point where holding stock is more costly than selling it at a loss. It's called clearance.

When Valve started selling off the Steam Controllers for a "clearance" price, I immediately knew that something else was coming along (I'd hoped for the SC2, but what we got was much better).

And as for sales, by your logic the Steam Deck must be a huge failure because it's only sold a million units, which is a fraction of what the Switch sold in its first year. But I don't see anyone calling the Deck a failure, do you?

I have no idea what the Steam Controller was forecasted to sell and how much money it made, and neither do you. So I'm not going to claim it was a success (which you seem convinced I'm trying to do) or a failure.

But what's for absolute certain is that the feedback Valve got from the users of the Steam Controller was used in the design of the Steam Deck, so from that point of view it was definitely successful. Whether it was financially successful will probably never be known, but then Xboxs and Playstations are sold at a massive loss, so they're also financial "failures", if you use that particular measure.

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FlatulentWallaby t1_j0dua1p wrote

> by your logic the Steam Deck must be a huge failure because it's only sold a million units

It hasn't even been out a year and that 9 months has been plagued by supply issues. That point is meaningless. It's hilarious you think that's even a valid point considering your "experience".

I still haven't seen you provide anything concrete that remotely shows the steam controller was a success. Feedback doesn't make you money. Sales make you money. Show me numbers that prove the steam controller was even close to a success. Until then, meaningless speculation proves nothing.

There was 1 feature they took from the steam controller and put into the steam deck. That's it. And that feature has been around since the PSVita, going forward with the playstation 4 controller so any "valuable feedback" doesn't mean much because the touch pads on the steam deck and steam controller aren't much different than the ones on the Vita or PS4/PS5 controllers.

And you resulting to personal attacks with assumptions about my age prove you don't actually have any meaningful proof against my claim.

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