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Rules:
I am patient. I will wait.
Scalpers are absolute scum.
I keep repeating this every time scalping comes up: The best way to turn a scalper into a bag holder is to not buy what they're peddling.
The problem is that there are way too many people to whom $300 is pocket change and perpetuating exploitation does not bother them.
Simple. eat the rich
See also: scalp the rich
You are asking gamers, the least scrupulous set of consumers on the face of the earth, to demonstrate patience.
I'd say drug addicts are one place higher on that list...but only one...
Somewhere above the average weed addict but below the average opiate or meth addict. People who like weed (me) can get to be pretty picky about that stuff.
Scalpers put the items multiple times to ebay, with the intention to make the general price high, and also giving a "cheaper" option that looks like a deal. Even if its still higher than the original price. Getting the controller for 220 sounds like you got a good deal if most other sell it for 400. And there will always be people with more money in their pocket than the rest, who do not care what effects it has when purchasing it from the scalpers.
Second best would be manufacturers auctioning off their early delivery themselves and selling units for the regular price to confirmed loyal customers.
Steam in particular has some interesting options. They could make it so that, during the first couple of weeks, you need an active Steam account that's at least a year old to buy a controller, and you get a maximum of two per Steam account.
There's lots they could do to make sure they are sold to as many legitimate customers as possible.
The question is, how do you manage it without pissing some people off? I dont think the scalpers are that big of a deal, there's never thousands of them, I bet the percentage of sold controllers going to scalpers is pretty low.
It might be a nice controller, but how desperate can you be buying it from a scalper knowing it'll be back in stock soon?
And paying $300 for the controller, while knowing it will be back in stock soon
I'm sure there's a few people that don't care about money, but no one else wants this controller that bad
People are abaolutrly weird like that. Back in the day i read online that americans don't protest, because they can't afford to not go to work a day. At the same time, a new iphone was released and people camped in front of a apple store.
Different groups of people. Being unable to miss work is a real thing for many Americans.
All the more reason for them to protest.
An article about a reddit post blaming scalpers...
Demand was high, so it sold out. There are definitely scalpers but the percentage of real buyers is probably way higher.
Without hard numbers it's all speculation either way.
True but if you look on eBay there aren't nearly enough postings as to suggest scalpers grabbed all of them.
Hope all the scalpers lose money.
If I were Valve I'd put out a statement just to fuck with them.
An issue was found in the current product and a new version of the Steam Controller will launch within days. Please be patient as stocks are restored.
Then a new version of it appears which is an identical controller that says FUCK SCALPERS on the underside
Four times. I've seen a listing marked as sold with a price of $400
You can sock puppet your own eBay listening to create “social proof”
I’m hoping nobody is actually paying $400 for an open box controller with no warranty…
I wouldn't think it would need to be open box. I'm sure the second they get the item they snap pictures and post it for sale. Are they opening these up to take pictures?
For all intents and purposes it’s an open box.
It could be replaced with a fake, with rocks, whatever. But if you have any issues your bit getting any warranty protection or coverage.
eBay actually has decent customer protection from my experience. I have no idea if that is where most of these end up though.
You know what can't be scalped? Open source: https://inputlabs.io/
But they are just as sold out
That's Alpaka 0, Alpaka 1 seems to be in stock.
Edit: also https://inputlabs.io/contribute/open_source
You wouldn't download a controller...
Why wouldn't they limit the number of controller you can by with one account, if scalpers are really the issue here
I saw an interview of two valve employees who said that the reason the controller took so long to come out was them wanting to make sure they had enough stock among some other things.
So I reckon they either didn’t expect to sell such a massive volume in such a short amount of time or have means to quickly restock
And gamers, the group of consumers known for their patience, will wait for the stock to be refilled in a month or so rather than making the scalpers worth their efforts.
I managed to get one but I also checked resale sites in my area and was happily surprised to see that there's yet to be a single one up for resale by a scalper.
That being said, I did see someone trying to resale the OG Steam Controller for $250 which is hilarious considering all the other listings for it are between $30-100.
In my region, I managed to get it about 90 min after the launch. I had to click continue 100 times, then put the baby to sleep, and click for anther 200 times, but managed.
then put the baby to sleep
For a second there, I thought Steam had implemented a weird new CAPTCHA.
"To prove you're a human, live a fulfilling life"
I got on right at the listed launch time, spammed continue for ~20 minutes, and got my order of 2 controllers through. Had a buddy who tried the exact same, spammed continue for 50 minutes, and ended up getting hit with "out of stock." It was really luck of the draw.
I didn’t see that coming actually. I love my steamdeck but I felt that the price for this controller was a bit to high. But it’s great to see valve succeeding here, they make great stuff.
In the Year of Our Lord J-Town 2026, a hundred dollars doesn’t seem bad at all for a premium controller. Xbox Elite is $150-$200 depending on “sale” price, DualSense Edge is $200. Hell, a pair of regular-ass JoyCons for the Switch 2 is $100.
Yea, that might be true. But the normal playstation and xbox controllers are still quite a bit cheaper, and personally I don’t really use the gyro and trackpad features.
I think it’s just a bad fit for me, but a good fit for a lot of other people.
I don't get this argument, a new Dualsense is $75 with potentiometer sticks that will drift, replacement Hall effect sticks are about $15. So for $90 you can get a Dualsense with Hall effect sticks that you have to solder so you run the risk of bricking the controller. For $9 more you get the Steam controller with all the extra buttons and customizability with Steam Input and TMR sticks out of the box.
The nice thing about the Dualsense is that you can get one that drifts already for quite cheap. I think I got mine for 25€ a couple years back
I have had an xbox one for years and it still works without stickdrift.
And if you really want hall effect, 8bitdo sells great controllers for very cheap.
I have a couple of every big controller including two steam controllers. Dualsense is my favorite due to the amazing haptics and adaptive triggers. I am 100% picking up two new steam controllers tho. They’re a STEAL for the tech. Four rear buttons? Drooool. I’m always trying to figure out how to PTT when I’m using a controller. Solved! I don’t use gyro often (unless I’m emulating Switch or playing like Ship of Harkinian) and I won’t use the touchpads much but everything else looks incredible.
I hope they come back in stock soon…
News about scalpers is the same as rage bait local news articles. I just don't care. If it's a problem write a real piece about it with potential solutions. The companies don't seem to see a problem so I assume everything is going as planned.