Valve announced during its Steam Dev Days event yesterday that they’ll be introducing full native support for the PlayStation 4‘s DualShock 4 controller in a future update to the Steam client.
When they go live, the new customization options will allow users to remap any of the DualShock 4’s buttons, including the touchpad and gyro features, Valve confirms. For an example of the sorts of changes you’ll be able to make, see the image above.
Essentially, if you’re not interested in picking up a Steam Controller, the update will allow you to enjoy the same level of customization that adopters of Valve’s own controller have been enjoying since its release.
“Believe it or not, when you use the PS4 Controller through Steam API, it’s exactly the same as a Steam Controller,” says Lars Doucet (via VideoGamer) of Level Up Labs, who was present at the event as co-host.
If you’re wondering why Valve decided to go with Sony’s gamepad rather than Microsoft’s own Xbox One controller, you’re not the only one, it seems. Explaining the decision to go with the DualShock 4 first, Doucet said:
“Well, not only is it a really nice, high quality controller, but it’s also got a gyro and a touchpad, so it’s got a lot of overlapping functionality with the Steam Controller. Also, existing native support for the PS4 controller on the PC is a bit weak; in this case Steam itself is communicating directly with the device so everything that’s nice and reliable.”
Sound reasoning, to be sure, but it’s nonetheless surprising to see Microsoft’s device left out, what with the Xbox 360 pad having been (and still continuing to be) the go to controller of choice for PC gamers.
Valve hasn’t ruled out adding similar support for other controllers in the future, but says it’s not quite ready to talk about such things as yet.
