More and more PC gamers, or at least those whose device of choice is tracked by Valve, are pushing their mouse and keyboard aside to either plop their controller on their desk mat or, like sensible people, recline their gaming chairs a few notches, push their arm rests forward, rest a controller in their lap, and relax like their console-playing fellows. Steam controller usage is up to 15%, Valve reveals in a brief new report, and "the controller landscape has changed."
That figure, a daily average for controller usage across Steam users, was just 5% as recently as 2018. Valve says that around 42% of controller players go directly through Steam Input – which seems surprisingly low to me given how convenient it is compared to third-party tools, but another figure may explain some of this – and the controller makeup itself is equally interesting.
