Do not pay scalper costs for a Steam Controller

Completely satisfied Could 4th, the day when Valve’s Steam Controller goes on sale and nothing else important in any respect. It doesn’t take house wizard powers to foretell that the redesigned Steam Controller is a scorching merchandise, each as a result of it’s elusive Valve {hardware} and it’s the primary (hopefully not the final) one accessible from the trio revealed final yr. It went out of inventory within the US lower than an hour after the shop opened.

Don’t purchase one from a scalper. Have a look at me. Don’t do it. Put your bank card again in your pocket and step away from the eBay search bar. Don’t purchase a Steam Controller from a scalper.

The Steam Deck has been out of inventory for months as Valve offers with the identical drawback all the trade has: vanishing provides of RAM and storage, and the ensuing insane value tags. It’s the identical drawback that’s delayed the Steam Machine and Steam Body VR headset. Valve has stated it’s laborious at work on these merchandise for a delayed 2026 launch… however I wouldn’t be stunned to see them slip off the far finish of the calendar.

The Steam Controller doesn’t have these issues. It doesn’t have RAM or storage, or at the least not sufficient to truly influence manufacturing to just about the identical diploma. It’s virtually sure that Valve can replenish its provide a lot sooner than the months-long drought of latest Steam Deck fulfillments. I’d be shocked if the Steam Controller didn’t return to the shop inside a number of weeks, although precisely what number of Valve has accessible and what number of it should order are up within the air.

I notice that is apparent, however I have to spell it out right here. When you wait somewhat longer, you may get a Steam Controller—and also you received’t need to pay (grasp on, let me verify…) 200 and eighty {dollars}, which is what some grifting jerkwad is asking for on eBay. (The retail value was already a bit excessive at $99, thoughts you.) Anticipate comparable listings to pop up on Fb Market et al. within the subsequent few days.

eBay

A few of these folks snatched up Steam Controllers with the intent to scalp them, a transparent and current case of rent-seeking habits within the traditional financial sense of the time period. Possibly some are folks simply down on their luck, who ordered their Steam Controllers in earnest and realized they may use an additional hundo or two, greater than they may use a neat new gaming enter. (There could or is probably not a LEGO Enterprise sitting unopened and unassembled in my closet, a bellwether towards an economic system that appears precariously near collapse.)

In any case, don’t purchase a Steam Controller from a scalper at an inflated value. Simply wait a number of weeks. When you’re out there for one, odds are overwhelming that you have already got some form of functioning controller in your house to make use of for now. You are able to do this.