“Steam Controller ran out faster than we anticipated” Valve say, surprising no one, promising to get more stock in

The Steam Controller is officially out now, having been released unto the world by the enigmatic Valve yesterday for all of us to have a go at purchasing. And have that go many has, as a day on it’s already completely sold out. Not sold out as in “do you still have one in the back,” sold out as in “Valve have released a short statement on just how little (zero) controllers they have.”

Here’s the statement in full from the official Valve Bluesky account: “Steam Controller ran out faster than we anticipated, and we hate that not everyone who wanted one was able to get it. We’re working on getting more in stock and will have an update on expected timeline soon.” That’s it! That’s your update, no further word on how soon soon is or how much they’ll have in stock when they get more into their warehouse.

Steam Controller ran out faster than we anticipated, and we hate that not everyone who wanted one was able to get it. We’re working on getting more in stock and will have an update on expected timeline soon.

— Valve (@valvesoftware.com) May 5, 2026 at 5:07 PM

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I’m sure it’ll come as a disappointment to some, but here’s what you’re not going to do. You’re not going to go on eBay and reward scalpers by picking the controller up for, at minimum, double the price. Sometimes even more than double! Yes, as is the case when any bit of hardware that gets the tech nerds going (said with all the love in my heart), those with speedy trigger fingers and a shady eBay account are already attempting to flog the controller without a console at extortionate prices.

It’s ridiculous, and I know you, gentle RPS reader, would never do something so silly as to get your hands on a controller you probably don’t need right now sooner rather than later. There’s much better things you could be doing than that! Like torturing yourself over not having one by reading James’ review of the thing, which he generally landed quite positively on. Or perhaps you might choose to peruse this conversation between James and Julian about it. Just putting it out there!

What about the rest of you RPS readers who did get one? What’ll be the first thing you try out? The only thing I’m managing to put any significant time into at the moment is Marathon, so that’s what I choose. If I had one. Which I don’t. Re-read the article to understand why.