Valve is implementing a reservation system for its retooled Steam Controller after the the initial wave of available units sold out in minutes. There is still no word on when the next restock will happen, but beginning today (May 8) at 10:00 a.m. Pacific (1:00 p.m. Eastern), interested buyers who have a Steam account in good standing will be able to place a reservation.

In addition to needing an account in good standing, Valve says it will only accept reservations from Steam users who have made a purchase on Steam prior to April 27, 2026. The idea is to combat scalpers, or as Valve puts it, it is “taking steps to limit reseller activity” after listings appeared on eBay with steep markups.

“Steam Controller launched on May 4th, and while we were happy to see such a high level of interest, the experience for a lot of you trying to buy it was incredibly frustrating. We plan to continue replenishing stock as we get more in, but in the meantime wanted to share changes we’re making to improve the purchase experience and to limit reseller activity,” Valve states in a blog post.

Steam Controller shown as out of stock on Valve's website.

The reservation queue puts interested buyers in line to buy a Steam Controller, with a limit of one unit per user. After placing a reservation, your spot in line is saved, and Valve sent out emails in the same order they were made once it has more units to sell.

Anyone who already purchased a Steam Controller from the initial wave of availability is not eligible to reserve a second unit, no matter what the status of their Steam account. For those who are eligible, once they receive an email saying the Steam Controller is in stock and it’s their turn to buy one, they will have 72 hours to make a purchase on Steam, Valve says.

Valve’s pricing on the latest iteration of the Steam Controller is $99, which is a little high compared to base models of Microsoft’s Xbox wireless controller ($64.99, on sale for $49.06 at Amazon) and Sony’s DualSense wireless controller ($74), though quite a bit less than the more premium Xbox Elite Series 2 ($149.99) and especially the DualSense Edge ($199).

Valve also released 3D CAD files for the Steam Controller and Puck for people who want to hack, mod, or design accessories.

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