In brief: The Steam Controller and Index were among Valve's most famous pieces of hardware before the company's handheld popularized a new segment of PCs. Recent leaks suggest Valve is preparing to revisit its earlier products, as renders reveal substantial control layout and form factor changes. Data miners have uncovered details on an in-development follow-up to the Steam Controller and a pair of controllers for Valve's previously leaked standalone headset. The products could enter mass production in the coming months. EOZ VR XR project manager Brad Lynch shared code and renders discovered in the SteamVR client, indicating the two controllers are in a late stage of development.Valve's ibex (steam controller 2) and roy controllers just leaked. There's various versions of the roy controllers.[image or embed] Pavel Djundik (@xpaw.me) November 26, 2024 at 6:01 PMThe new Steam Controller, codenamed "Ibex," resembles the Steam Deck's control layout in an Xbox-like form factor. Whereas the original Steam Controller sacrificed the traditional directional pad and right analog stick to accommodate its innovative trackpads, the successor reverses those compromises and shifts them beneath the sticks.An AR overlay of Project Codename Roy on top of a Steam Deck for reference // Related StoriesValve's first attempt at enhancing couch-bound PC gaming was an intriguing product but saw only modest commercial success. The company discontinued the device in 2019 but recently licensed a more traditional gamepad from Hori. A direct successor to the Steam Controller might satisfy users who missed out on the original.Meanwhile, the new VR controllers, codenamed "Roy," seem much smaller than the Valve Index controller and closely resemble Metal Quest 3 controllers. Multiple design stages have emerged, but what appears to be the final model features the full suite of buttons, sticks, bumpers, triggers, and grips expected of any standard gamepad. In contrast with the Quest 3 controllers, Valve added a directional pad and moved all four face buttons to the righthand controller.Roy is the first concrete evidence of Valve's future VR plans since references to a standalone headset codenamed "Deckard" appeared in a driver file in 2021. Details on the project are scarce, but a recent leak revealed that Valve's interest in Arm on Linux has invited speculation that the Index successor might be an Arm device. Deckard's chances of coming to market seemed ambiguous three years ago, but Roy's emergence suggests that Valve is actively preparing to release the headset.The Steam Deck has recently eclipsed the Steam Controller and Valve Index in the public consciousness, which inspired a new wave of handheld gaming PCs and dramatically improved Linux gaming. However, Valve doesn't plan to iterate on the Steam Deck until a significant performance boost becomes possible without sacrificing battery life, which might take years.Image credit: Down