If you've been waiting for Steam to support PS5 DualSense controllers, we've got good news: the service has been updated with much better DualSense features.
The update was announced on the official Steam blog, which says that the update will "help the millions of players with PlayStation's DualShock and DualSense controllers easily find games to play with those devices."
The starting point is the Controller-Friendly Hub, which has been upgraded: you can now explore titles by controller type, so there are four options to choose from: Xbox controller, DualShock controller, DualSense controller and all controllers.
What other changes has Steam made for DualSense players?
Steam has also updated its store page displays, which will now tell you more about support for the three most commonly used controllers – again, Xbox, DualShock and DualSense. The display will be personalised based on the devices Steam has seen you use most recently.
Search has been updated too. You can now search with filters to look specifically for your chosen controller, and to find games build specifically with controllers in mind.
That's not all. Controller support is now shown in your Library, and you can set filters to automatically categorise controller-focused games into the same category for fast access. And there's now a permanent Controller Configuration button on the play bar next to the settings and information buttons on the play bar.
If you're wondering why Valve is so keen on controllers when it's primarily a PC platform, the blog explains that too: it notes that around 12% of active players on Steam regularly use controllers, and in some games the numbers are much, much higher: some popular ball games can have as many as 80% of their players using controllers rather than keyboards, and some RPGs have more than 50% of players doing the same. Xbox controllers remain the favourite – they're used more than twice as much s PlayStation ones – but the proportion of PlayStation controllers has increased from 19% of sessions to 27%. Other controllers in common use include the Steam Deck and similar handhelds.
As ever with Valve the blog also goes into a deep dive about what forms of support it's offering and what other patches have been made to the store. It also details how Bluetooth is more challenging for PS5 controllers than for Xbox ones, and why that might be an issue in some games.
