Steam Controllers to come back in stock with reprise of Steam Deck reservation system

Valve has announced that the next wave of Steam Controllers will only be purchasable through a reservation system similar to the one used early in the Steam Deck's life cycle. The announcement post does not specify when, exactly, this next round of controllers will make it into customers' hands, but reservations are set to open tomorrow, May 8, at 10 AM Pacific / 1 PM Central / 6 PM BST.

Valve will open a "reservation queue" at that time. "Once you reserve, your place in line will be saved," the company wrote in its announcement post. "When we go back in stock, order emails will be sent in the same order that reservations were made."

Valve is at least as unhappy as we are to see how quickly Steam Controller orders started turning around on eBay, so in addition to the queue, the company is bringing back familiar restrictions to who can reserve a Steam Controller order:

• Only one per customer.
• You get three days to act on your reservation once the controller's back in stock.
• If you already bought a Steam Controller, you can't make a reservation.
• Your Steam account has to be "in good standing" and have made a purchase prior to April 27.

Reservation priority is going to the US and Canada first, with initial reservation fulfillment—when you can actually place your order, basically— starting the week of May 11, while the UK, Europe, and Australia will see their reservations fulfilled "in the following weeks."

The first round of orders initially had three to five day shipping estimates, increasing to six to ten days as demand surged⁠—it's unclear what final delivery timetables will look like with round two.

This seems like a smart move after the first wave of Steam Controllers sold out in just 30 minutes, causing payment processing errors across the Steam Store in the process. This is basically the same system Valve used at the beginning of the Steam Deck's availability, and I gotta say I find it preferable to the law of the jungle. Even if you're waiting a long time regardless, at least it feels fair and there's a process to trust.

That Valve didn't opt for reservations in the first wave speaks to how much it was genuinely caught off-guard by the Steam Controller's popularity. If I had to hazard a guess, I would assume that Valve was planning on reservations for Steam Machines and open season for Steam Controllers. With its hardware launches now hindered by AI-related component shortages, consumer demand only has the Steam Controller to focus on.