Can it be used as a controller for my current PC ?

[Olkris]

I loved the concept of the Steam Controllers as soon as I learned they existed. But I was a kid so I had no money, and more importantly no gaming PC. When I finally did though, I heard they got discontinued and got sold for 5$ really fast, and I couldn't get my hands on any of 'em, what a shame.

Now enter the Steam Deck. The controls look brilliant. I can only wonder how many hours I'll spend in the Steam Input Configuration menu making bonkers input profiles.

I get that it's a very good piece of hardware for a handheld, and I have no complaints, especially as a Nintendo Switch user. But there is no denying a desktop computer can be more powerful, and since mine is, decked out with a 144hz screen and all, I'd really love if there was a way to use the Steam Deck as a controller.

I know it will most likely be possible when streaming games from the PC to the Steam Deck, but I'm thinking a more native approach, that wouldn't incur additional latency, hog down my internet, and would let me appreciate a high-framerate experience on my monitor.

I've looked at the official site, the Steam page for it, and a handful videos on YouTube about it, but I can't find a mention of whether it can also work as a controller only.

[Emilio]

It should work as a controller hooked up to another pc.
I think it would be a weird oversight if it didn't.

[Xedhadeaus]

That's a great question, and something I definitely want to look into. Though using it that way will lose touch control mos likely. unless it can also be seen as a cloned display.

[ᑕYᗷEᖇᑕᗩT]

As a straight up controller for your current PC eh? I'm not thinking it will be able to as it seems a rather inefficient use of the deck tbh. I mean you'd get for more from a dedicated controller vs the bulk of a handheld PC as one imo. I know I have my steam controller which is totally awesome and in some ways i'm hoping that with the dock i'll be able to use that to play on my TV with the SD. I guess we'll just have to wait sadly.

[WhiteKnight]

It would awesome if it works similar to Wii U Gamepad https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-al4wjwD9_s

[Chryseus]

Very unlikely I think but we'll have to wait and see.

[kilésengati]

Someone writing a program to read the inputs and stream it to a PC via USB/Bluetooth/WiFI is with the realms of possibility.

[Olkris]

Originally posted by WhiteKnight:

It would awesome if it works similar to Wii U Gamepad

This is exactly what I'm thinking of !

Originally posted by Psylent ==:

…you'd get for more from a dedicated controller vs the bulk of a handheld PC as one imo…

I know, but even still, the controls on the Deck are just so incredibly full of potential that it'd be a shame not to be able to at least try it. And y'know, who knows, the Wii U gamepad works fine enough, so the size isn't an issue so much. And maybe this is just wishful thinking, but the weight my help with accuracy when aiming with gyro ??? Maybe.

Originally posted by kilésengati:

Someone writing a program to read the inputs and stream it to a PC via USB/Bluetooth/WiFI is with the realms of possibility.

This is actually right !
…
Hold on I just realized… sure they could, but then it'd just talk directly to the Xinput / Direct Input APIs, so you wouldn't be able to use of all the extra interaction methods within Steam Input.
I think that for extra controls like a trackpad or else to work, Valve has to add support for the specific controller directly. For instance, they did mention in some patchnotes that they added support for PS5 controllers. So they had to step in.

But anyways, I'm very sure that even if the feature is not present at launch, with enough demand from users, they'll be able to patch it in with an update, nothing is set in stone.

[ben914]

I'm not sure if that's planned for out of the box, but if not I think it's likely someone will make it work. For the Steam Controller someone started this project -> https://github.com/kozec/sc-controller to get the controller to work independent of the steam client, which I've used, and it works quite nicely. I think this was only written for Linux, not sure if there was anything similar for Windows or not, anyhow, I imagine something similar could be done for the Steam Deck.

Edit: On this subject, I would like see a refreshed Steam Controller based on the Steam Deck's layout. Which would also be really useful for when you have the Steam Deck docked and hooked up to a TV/Monitor.

[ReBoot]

Steam in-home streaming/remote play already does pretty much this.

[Angular Velocity]

Steam In-Home streaming has a few shortcomings when it comes to using the controller on a PC.

For one you can't just connect to your PC without launching a game (so HTPC is not viable like this). I would love the steam link functionality where you connect to your PC and have access to the desktop and per-game configurations.

It's also dependent on the wifi signal, regardless of how close the actually PC is, especially when many PCs are connected through LAN in weak wifi spots.

I still personally think a controller mode would be phenomenal for this device. One that connects to a PC via usb or bluetooth, and you can configure how it get's interpreted, either through steam input, or generic xinput/kbm. This would solve every compatibility issue with games outside of steam.

[Olkris]

Yes, I fully agree.

I currently use Steam Rom Manager, it helps me add my third-party games to Steam in batch and without too much hastle, which in turn unlock the ability to launch them and stream them from the Deck.

But this still doesn't solve the fact that the remote connection just crashes for no reason from time to time, even though my internet router is 1 meter from me, and my PC is connected via ethernet. (This cost me a few games x) )

I'd love for Valve to drop their own solution for this, fully integrated with Steam Input.

[Stanto]

"Can it be used as a controller for my current PC ?"

No. In the sense that you cannot connect it to your PC over a USB-C cable and have it act as a steam controller, no. It does not support the correct USB mode for the steam deck to be identified to another computer as a 'usb device' to identify as a controller.

People have mentioned using in-home streaming or remote play, but that's not strictly the same.

Any operation to function like a 'wii u controller' would require the necessary software to do so (even on the wii-u it kinda acted like a website streaming MP4 video).

But in short, no.

[Olkris]

Oh, that's right though, you can only really use the Deck's screen to display something else if the game is running on the Deck itself. Otherwise with streaming you're forced to mirror the same screen twice.

If Valve actually drops an in house solution they could even allow the Deck to act as a wireless monitor, that would be so sick.

[halifax]

I would love to have a Steam Controller 2 that is basically the Steam Deck controller parts. Or just have Valve make a software solution to use the Steam Deck as a PC controller that is a more efficient and native solution to In-Home streaming.

I love running Linux as my PC OS, and the Steam Deck has made my Linux gaming life a lot better by amping up Proton Wine to the Nth degree. And I love the controller parts of the Steam Deck, but I'm just not a mobile gamer... If I could use it as a legit controller on my PC, that'd be enough of an excuse to buy one for me.

[⍟Tex]

Actually, I think the steam deck is a bit too heavy and big to properly work as a controller for pc. I'd rather stick to ps / Xbox controllers.