The Steam Controller sold out in 30 minutes, utterly breaking Steam in the process

Grass grows, birds fly, sun shines, and brother I hurt people, a Valve hardware launch brought Steam to its knees. A half hour after launch, the Steam Controller has already sold out after seriously borking the Steam Store. Fifteen minutes later? A sliver of hope as it showed fresh stock once more, only to immediately sell out again (if it wasn’t a mirage in the first place).

Downdetector shows a massive spike in error reports right around the 1 PM Eastern, 10 AM Pacific launch time of the Steam Controller, while anecdotally, the Steam Store was a minefield. I have the error message, “There seems to have been an error initializing or updating your transaction. Please wait a minute and try again or contact support for assistance,” seared into my eyeballs at this point.

The Steam Controller’s splashy page on Steam initially showed a 3-5 business day wait before extending to 6-10. I was frantically refreshing the payment page on Steam during PC Gamer’s daily meeting right up until PCG news lead Andy Chalk gleefully told me my efforts were in vain.

I think we all anticipated this would happen, given the early rush to secure Steam Decks all the way back in 2022, but like everyone out there trying to bag a day one Steam Controller, I figured I was built different—unspecified millions of people who successfully bought a controller clearly were built different.

It’s an incredible turnaround from the ignominious end of the original Steam Controller, whose janky double-A battery goodness was going for an embarrassing $5 a pop by the end of its lifespan. Valve hardware is an event now, even if it’s just a controller.

The new Steam Controller was supposed to have some friends launching with it today, but the RAM crisis has clearly affected Valve’s hardware rollout. The company has said it’s still planning on getting the Steam Frame and new Steam Machine out this year.

Hardware writer Jacob Ridley enjoyed the Steam Controller as a great new all-rounder in his review, but cautioned that it wasn’t a value champion compared to cheaper options from 8bitdo or Gamesir that still offer premium features like Hall Effect sticks.

This is a developing story.