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Steam to Curate Game Support for DualShock & DualSense Controllers

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The Steam store and desktop client will soon be able to help players find games that support DualSense or DualShock controllers. If your game supports either of these devices, you can now enter that information in the Steamworks "edit store" section for your app. Steamworks has a new controller-support questionnaire for developers to better describe the devices supported by the game.

If your game plays well with a DualShock or DualSense Controller (PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 respectively), you can now specify that information within Steamworks. This is the first step toward helping players find games that support the most commonly-used PC video game controllers. Starting in October, we'll show this information to players in the Steam store and Steam desktop client. Here are more details on this new level of support.




First, describe your games' controller support
As part of the 'edit store' section for each game in Steamworks, you'll find a new questionnaire to describe your controller support



Through this questionnaire, you will self-identify the level of controller support that your game handles. You'll be presented with a set of criteria and options for describing whether your game meets that criteria.

For now, the results of this survey will do two things:
  • 1) It will output results that are displayed using our existing options on the store. This generally boils down to just "Full Controller Support" or "Partial Controller Support" with special cases for games that require controllers or only work with keyboard/mouse. If you already had controller support indicated on your store page, you may not see anything change immediately on your store page.
  • 2) It will also output a preview within Steamworks of what the future store display will show for the game. This will distinguish between full and partial Xbox, DualShock, and DualSense Controller support.



Important note: Support for DualShock and DualSense controllers isn't automatically assumed if you already have good Xbox controller support. These two PlayStation controllers are pretty different, so if you haven't done specific work to support them, then you almost certainly do not have support for those controllers.

Starting In October, New display and filters roll out to players
Once game developers have had a chance to review the new controller-support questionnaire and enter updated controller support, we'll start showing players this new information. So starting in early October, we'll roll out some updates to the Steam store and the Steam desktop client to expose this new information. This update will include the following:
  • Updates to store page area that displays controller support to also specify the level of PlayStation controller usage
  • Updates to some browse pages to make it easier for players to find new games that support their controller device well
  • Updates to the Steam Desktop client to indicate a game in your library has PlayStation controller support
  • Updates to the Steam Desktop client to make it more clear when a game requires use of a controller to play

Why Controller Support Is Important
Over the past few years it has become more and more common for players to enjoy games on Steam using a controller rather than strictly keyboard/mouse. In fact, since 2017, Steam has seen over 87 Million users play at least once using a controller. Among those players, the majority (~69%) have used some version of Xbox controllers, with the remaining being a mix of PlayStation controllers, Switch Pro Controllers, and hundreds of other devices.

But recently we've seen the most growth among players using various types of PlayStation controllers. For example, in 2018, PlayStation controllers comprised about 11% of controller sessions. Fast-forward to today and we now see 27% of controller sessions being played with PlayStation controllers.

How to Support PlayStation Controllers (and many more)
Supporting PlayStation controllers in a game on your own can be challenging, so Steamworks provides some streamlined APIs to help. If you have an existing game with good Xbox Controller support, you might just need to add calls to get the right glyphs to show for players using a PlayStation Controller. If that's the case, check out our Steam Input Gamepad Emulation - Best Practices documentation. Or, if you are starting your controller support from scratch, we've got great APIs that make it easy to support hundreds of different devices with one integration. For an overview on Steam Input support, please check out documentation here: https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/steam_controller

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source
 
Go Scuba Steam!!
 
I hate these Sony controllers, unusable for me, the sticks are in the wrong positions...
 
I hate these Sony controllers, unusable for me, the sticks are in the wrong positions...
Yeah, using a Dualshock feels weird after I got used to the stick placement of a Xbox controller.
 
I hate these Sony controllers, unusable for me, the sticks are in the wrong positions...
The sticks are where it should be, from 1997.
 
The sticks are where it should be, from 1997.

The more refined and better engineered stuff, with the sticks at proper positions came in

Screenshot 2023-09-09 200812.png


:D;)
 
I hate these Sony controllers, unusable for me, the sticks are in the wrong positions...

Yeah, using a Dualshock feels weird after I got used to the stick placement of a Xbox controller.
Seriously ? Guys, come on !
Never have a problem with a controller since the NES one :)
( sometimes get tired with joycons attached to the switch)
I'm sure you can do it too :)
You Got This Do It GIF by iQiyi
 
Seriously ? Guys, come on !
Never have a problem with a controller since the NES one :)
( sometimes get tired with joycons attached to the switch)
I'm sure you can do it too :)
You Got This Do It GIF by iQiyi
Currently playing Legend of Dragoon on PS4 an I'd rather play with Xbox controller. I mean, a Dualshock isn't unusabe for me but I've just got to using a Xbox controller in the last decade. And I was a PS kid before I got into PC gaming :D
 
I hate these Sony controllers, unusable for me, the sticks are in the wrong positions...

I hate these XBOX controllers, unusable for me, the sticks are in the wrong positions...
 
Steam already had a "compatible with controller" tag for a long time and I believe the steam client handled the xinput translation ever since Sony finally decided to release drivers for windows back with Dualshock 4 (sony even mainlined the driver into the linux kernel)

Will they now have a further category for games that respect the x :square: :triangle: :circle: of playstation controllers along with the generic xbox a b x y?
 
To be sure what's really changed. I use a PS4 one with the the official DS4 wireless PC adapter. Linux and Win sees it natively... click in checkbox PS4 and that's it. And games that are properly coded sniffs them and change from xbox to PS layout scheme. It's been years.

OK, I would agree that haptic feedback in wireless mode is MIA for PS5 controller.

So the topic is that we will now kick in the butt those devs that aren't doing it?
 
Steam already had a "compatible with controller" tag for a long time and I believe the steam client handled the xinput translation ever since Sony finally decided to release drivers for windows back with Dualshock 4 (sony even mainlined the driver into the linux kernel)

Will they now have a further category for games that respect the x :square: :triangle: :circle: of playstation controllers along with the generic xbox a b x y?

Some games support extra features on Dualshock, but because steam will convert them all to XBOX input without option to disable it per game, you will lose them.
 
Some games support extra features on Dualshock, but because steam will convert them all to XBOX input without option to disable it per game, you will lose them.
No. Gyro, lighting and everything is still exposed. What Steam does is remap any controller input to the Xbox input... or anything else. Then you can configure it to your liking and use the default for the game, enable or disable it. Flick Stick for example is such a cool way of playing FPS with a controller.
 
Playstation button prompts please.
That's still tied to the developer. Some games allow you to change button prompts to PS or Xbox style.
 
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