Why do most Steam games not support Playstation controllers?

[N1x0n's B4ck]

Not many Steam games have built-in Playstation controller support, and you have to use Steam's configuration support (which is basically controller emulation built-in to Steam) for them to work.

And for the few games that do actually support them, a lot of them still show Xbox prompts on screen despite using a Playstation controller.

You could say, because the Xbox controller is the most commonly used for PC, or because the game is not on Playstation. Well, actually, even some Steam games that are on Playstation as well still don't support Playstation controllers.

Is there any real reason for this? Other than just laziness?

[*P0P$*FR3$H3NM3Y3R*]

Well the reason for the XBOX controller being the quasi standard on PC is that they use XInput which is a natively supported part of DirectX . It is heavily integrated in Windows by Microsoft and therefor highly compatible and easy to implement for developers.

[N1x0n's B4ck]

Originally posted by *P0P$*FR3$H3NM3Y3R*:

Well the reason for the XBOX controller being the quasi standard on PC is that they use XInput which is a natively supported part of DirectX . It is heavily integrated in Windows by Microsoft and therefor highly compatible and easy to implement for developers.

So laziness basically. Got it.

[*P0P$*FR3$H3NM3Y3R*]

Originally posted by N1x0n's B4ck:

Originally posted by *P0P$*FR3$H3NM3Y3R*:

Well the reason for the XBOX controller being the quasi standard on PC is that they use XInput which is a natively supported part of DirectX . It is heavily integrated in Windows by Microsoft and therefor highly compatible and easy to implement for developers.

So laziness basically. Got it.

Well Microsoft for one might not be allowed to bundle any PS controller drivers into their OS, since those drivers are either the IP of Sony or homebrew stuff. To support these, developers would probably have to get clearance from Sony to use parts of their IP. I guess its both lazyness and also legal mumbo jumbo :/

[N1x0n's B4ck]

Originally posted by Mr Eos:

It's more like Xbox in general is the superior controller, It's the American Controller, the controller for the Western world.

From at least 2001 to about 2012. The Playstation controller just could not compare to an Xbox controller. The triggers were better (Concave instead of convex) The thumbsticks were better, for all the same reasons. And the placement of the thumbsticks avoided certain issues for people with larger hands. I had to buy and glue Concave trigger modifiers for my Playstation controllers just so I could use the triggers without my fingers constantly sliding off of them. And this was during the time that PC was really starting to embrace playing games with native controller support. PS4 Controller solved alot of these issues.

All of this contributes to why the Xbox controller is the dominate controller for PC gamers.

It's also just a bit easier to grasp and remember the layout of ABXY compared to trying to grasp and remember the layout of Square, Circle, Triangle, X. Not by much but... It always takes me a second to remember the placements of Square and Circle. when I take a break from my PS. I don't get that same hesitation when I take breaks from playing with an Xbox controller trying to remember where X and B are located.

TL:DR


So it's not laziness. It's just what it is. You should already own an Xbox controller.

I always hated the Xbox 360 controller because it literally turns off from just shaking the controller or slightly hitting it because it misplaces the batteries, and this used to happen to me on accident all the time. The buttons are also VERY loud. The Xbox One controller is fine however.

I use a PS4 controller for everything because it has an actual advantage over an Xbox controller. Although some might not find it as comfortable, the touchpad gives you an actual advantage for some games. The touchpad in Steam functions as 2 extra buttons which you can use for anything you want. The touchpad can also be used as a mouse cursor for Steam games, and if used for an emulator such as the Wii U emulator, the touchpad functions as the Wii U's touchscreen capability.

[.Loug]

I use my Dualshock 4 for everything on Steam without the need of any third party software thanks to Windows 10 having the Xbox controller driver by default, the only thing most games on Steam doesn't have is the Playstation layout.