Skip to content

Valve Confirms It’s Making Hardware

Valve doesn’t like the fact that the basic input of a PC, the keyboard and mouse, hasn’t changed in any significant way for many years, and is apparently frustrated by the lack of innovation in PC hardware. Because of this, the software company is hiring hardware development specialists for a new hardware project.

Perhaps Valve is not necessarily creating a new console, but may be developing a new controller for PC. Unlike Sony and Microsoft, whose chief video game controllers remain largely unchanged, from the NES to Wii U, each Nintendo console’s main controller is distinctive. Because Wii U offers consumers different controllers to play with, perhaps Valve should consider Nintendo’s forthcoming console as a primary recipient of its games and services.

“Valve is traditionally a software company. Open platforms like the PC and Mac are important to us, as they enable us and our partners to have a robust and direct relationship with customers.”

“We’re frustrated by the lack of innovation in the computer hardware space though, so we’re jumping in.Even basic input, the keyboard and mouse, haven’t really changed in any meaningful way over the years. There’s a real void in the marketplace, and opportunities to create compelling user experiences are being overlooked.”

160 thoughts on “Valve Confirms It’s Making Hardware”

        1. Why would you come onto a Nintendo Blog, which is heavily focused on WiiU, click on an article about Steam and then say they are both sh!t? Seems to me like you are lacking either confidence or a life….

        2. Don’t you trolls ever have anything productive to do? You make yourselves seem like asses. Honestly, you’re impressing no one.

        1. Not only your comment is bullshit, you’re also full of shit. Nintendo cares about gamers and consumers. If they want HD, better graphics, and incredible play control, they listen. The Nintendo 3DS and Wii U are two prime examples.

          1. my comment wasn’t meant to be a insult to nintendo. All I was saying is nintendo does whatever it wants when it comes to its products. For an example when the Xbox 360 and ps3 went hd nintendo decided not to to keep the price of the wii down and they were right. To this day the wii has sold more than the 360 and ps3. Another example is recently when everyone said that nintendo should go software only and develop for smartphones like the rest of the crowd.Nintendo says no and decides that they want to keep making consoles. My point is that they won’t care if everyone says that they should use someone else online system they will probably do their own thing. Although I can’t speak for nintendo. Sorry for the poorly written comment.

              1. And these is coming from a tool and nintendrone. Remember when iwata lied about earthbound comng to vc just to sell the wii lol what a tool keep sucking that corporate cock i see you have a thing for italian meatballs weirdo

                1. Yep copying oddyssey,atari,commodre,sega and flip phines doing ya own thing lol boy does playing shitendo fiy the critical thinking region of the brain?

          2. Yeah like not copying cough:lestick,odyessy light gun,atari innovations like robot and being firsf to have everything from sidescrollers to puzzle games,flip phones and sega like cd becuase they feard the sega cd yep doing their own thing. I see in nintendo wolrd dictionary being plagirist copy cats is caleed being innovated and doing there own thing lol nice pc bullshit terms their but in the real world its called copy paste thieves

              1. Hey they only do it because nintendo copyied first including flip phones lmfao and backstabbing sony after they begged for help. Oh and lets not forget snes would be shit without shitendo stealig sonys fx chip lmfao

                1. REALITY CHECK– Nintendo was FIRST to create the Game & Watch and then the Game Boy. Your comment about the flip phone delusion is 100% bullshit. And furthermore– It’s ARGONAUT SOFTWARE who had created the Super FX chip for Super NES games like StarFox… not Sony. You lose! Good day sir!

                  1. Reality check mr miyamotl himself admitted it was his inspiration. He even keep an eye on iphone wii u app shop anyone wii u tablet and touchscreen first used in cellphones. As for fx chip everyone aknowledge sony made it first for them till the contract expired. Heck go argue with icons history if you think your right. Nintendo are lies and the apple doesnt fall far from the tree. Pwning your ass makes my feel so MANLY

                    1. Where did you get that info… out of your ass? Get the fuck outta here! U mad because Miiverse will be accessible to Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, smartphones and PCs. And you still fail to accept the fact that ARGONAUT SOFTWARE have created the Super FX chip. It’s all printed in black and white, clear as crystal… LOSER!

                      1. Some of the info was from cough cough ICONS HISTORY,KOTAKU AND GIZMODO to name a FEW sources. Your pussy hurt take some vagisil

                        1. Wii: 96.5 million worldwide (41.8%)
                          X360: 68 million (29.5%)
                          PS3: 66.1 million (28.7%) FUCKING LAST PLACE, COCKSUCKER!!!!!!

                          Nintendo 3DS: 19.7 million (87.8%)
                          PS Vita (PORTable Titanic): 2.7 million (12.2%) STILL LAST PLACE LOSER!!!!!!!!

                          Piss off drone… your ass is forever EXPOSED!!!!!!

                        2. I could easliy pull numbers when sega, playstaion and 2 raped the fuck out of nintendo. Lmfao funny nintedo now is using sony amd some of segas marketing techniques smh leqding the market eh. Enjoy your victory for now but know this nothing last forever and nintendo will drop the ball and if that happen in my life time all hell will break loose. If i die i will pass down my wisdom to my children whatever the case when they die either me or my ancestors will celebrate. Im doing evrything to make sure they drop the ball from voodoo,buying market shares,praying to all GODS,sending flyres to boyl and girl scouts and even joining the ymca oh pray that nintendo dont die when im alive cuz i got my cold dish in the freezer waiting to be served!

                      2. Nintendo didn’t use the graphics isn’t everything from sony.The nes snes was less powerful than sega’s sytems.

                    1. I know what game and watch is motherfucker but iwata you reading ding dong IWATA said the inspiration for he GAMEBOY ADVANCE SP GAME BOOOOY ADVANCEEEEE SSSSSSPPPPPP DUMMY WAS INSPIRATION FROM CEEELLLLLLLPHHHONE JEZZ I HAVE TO SPEAK RETARD TO THESE PEASENTS IT EVEN OPEN AND CLOSED LIKE ONE AND HAD A CHARGER SIMILAR SO TAKE IT UP WITH MIYAMOTO! MY GOOD ARE NINTARD DENSE HEADED JESUS FUCKING TITTIY CHRIST ME

            1. Um… you do know Netflix is also on the Wii and 3DS, Nintendo doesn’t shy away from allowing outside services on their systems.

        2. interesting. although this is barely news .

          valve is going to make a gaming rig for about $700 .

          it will sell about 12 million , in its life time. nothing big.

          not threatening to nintendo , sony or microsoft.

          sounds better than ouya though and i am interested !

        1. -____-

          *sigh* remember when gaming actually progressed and got interesting? Now its just Nintendo and everyone else acting retarded, believe 2 analogs, 4 buttons and some triggers is enough. Its funny, because prople though 1 dpad and 2 buttons was enough…

          1. Nintendo is not acting retarded, but the 3rd party developing games for the Wii who HAS to use the Wii mote in every single game, even when it doesn’t make sence.

            1. No, i didnt mean Nintendo were being retarded, i meant tey were the only ones progressing in every aspect, including the controller, while everyone while is just like “hurrmurr, graphics nuurrrrr”

              1. Oh, I missread it xD I thought so after posting, but I could not be sure as many honestly thinks Nintendo are the worst ones. But I agree completly then. But I hate when third party missuse the Wii mote and that’s prob the biggest trollfeeder of all times :S

                1. Yeah. Im looking forward to seeing how developers handle the WiiU, because theres such a wide variety of controller variations, we could have something build with the gamepad in mind, or get that high quality graphics wiiu game that we wish we got with the Wii. I still think the prop controller needs a gyro in it…its such a simple cheap easy idea, but opens up gaming opertunites for those of us who are a little more…dull

                  1. i cant see how some developers cant make use of the wiimote, nintendo made perfect used of the wiimote in almost all genre and it didnt feel gimmicky like in racing(mariokart),shooters(metroid series),platformers(mario galaxies)Adventures(Zelda) cant they take idea from them?? oh well I guess some developers arnt as innovated..

          1. I’d be mostly sold if I could play some of my Steam games from it. Though developers would have to make ported versions of their games and would likely stick with the Pro controller(since it wouldn’t take much remapping).

      1. As interestin as it seems, I doubt it. Nintendo doesnt get much appreciation these days. They might just stick to PC and make a controller

        1. I love how they claim pc is lacking innovations while they relese digraceful pc leftover ports to the console kiddies. Yeah because making the most perentage of your gross income from pc and mobile gamings is slacking lol. With shitendos draconion standards youd need to sell x amount before you make half a buck which is actually a loss due to many factors including sales of used games and fuckig bastards nottrying to help the very same designers thatmake games for these losers money. Oh no dlc is expensive but well gladly buy usd gaming and stife the poo guy who made the game smh amd these guy complain who console games are stagnantly and why developers hate making games for shitendo. Pc will eventually destroy and for e rape all 3 into software making for them mark my words. They use to say consoles would never sale digital or go online or be anything but a video game system lol how times gone now everything they predicted was WRONG. Heck pc analysit were correct all along. And their last prediction is the death of consoles and handheld gaming. You may noy see the signs blindboys but its coming ouya anyone. When the ouyas successful and it will be you start seeing mobile gamng quickly start evolving muahahahhahahhabahhahaha cant wait for nitedo to make games for my iphione so that i may laugh and spit on their fucking names

          1. Does anyone have a Retarded-to-English translator? Can’t understand a word this guy is saying because he’s speaking in the ancient language of the Retard, if only he can type in english.

      2. I can’t wait to see what they come up with. Maybe with the new stuff, they’ll finally learn how to count to 3.

      3. lolll kinda pulling a scumbag steve there xD complains about lack of innovation for controllers, doesnt make a singe game for wii

          1. Yeah, the Wii wouldn’t have been able to handle any of those games, even on their lowest settings except for Half-Life, Team Fortress (1), and Deathmatch Classic. It just didn’t have the hardware for it.

          1. He’s talking about when they mentioned the keyboard/mouse and how its gotten old and that they never you the Wii for the Wii Controller.

      4. My main beef with the keyboard/mouse is that while aiming is super accurate, youre severely limited by using a directional pad (W,A,D) to move. The solution is not a traditional gamepad, either.

      5. While I see where they’re coming from, I enjoy Portal 2 equally on the PS3 and PC in terms of controls. Whenever a new type of controller is introduced (Wii, DS etc) there are some companies who produce games which just do not work when they try to adapt the new scheme… Hopefully Valve will be able to cater to a wide variety, from keyboard/mouse to conventional controllers and everything in between.

      6. I think they would not be able to beat Sony and Nintendo on the market, but they would sure as hell kick Microsoft out (embrace yourself, x-box fanboys will unite). Let me explain this statement before ripping my body apart. I don’t hate the X-box, but Valve would offer strictly better exclusives than the x-box would and if Valve would enter the frey all of their games would not come for the x-box and it would be left with nothing but FPS games. Even those the Valve system would have better support for. Sony and Nintendo would not suffer from this as both gets great non-fps exclusives that are the pinnacle of their genre.

        But now back to what I wanted to say: I really hope that Valve is not going to release a system this forcoming gen as it is already to many systems for the market to handel. I hope that as Sickr say they are eighter going to develop a new PC controller, or as in the dream scenary: They are going to show some love for Nintendo. If Nintendo was given Valves support it would wipe the smug smiles of all the haters faces about “bad support”. I can see them as a competor in the next-next gen, but not in the current one as there is no “need” for a new system in it.

      7. Valve should just work along side Nintendo. Both are very innovative and forward thinking, and truly apprieciate thier fans and customers

          1. Possibly. However, due to the atrocity that is Windows 8, Valve may start to work with Linux, so maybe they make their own brand of strictly gaming PC’s, or software, so theyre not bound by the bullshit of microsoft

              1. Best ever :’D But you will be trolled so hard by the parasprites for that picture… And so will I for using that term :'(

      8. I don’t think this means making a console specifically, but rather, making hardware for PC to change things up on their own way. Making a new console is not as simple as coming up with a design. Even companies as experienced as Nintendo, they spend billions of dollars to come up with the base design and then convert that into a final product. Valve is fairly big, but I don’t think they’re big enough for such a thing, at least not on the level of something like a home console like the Wii U and the other next systems.

        They could get into a partnership with other companies, but the likely candidate I see right now is Apple, and Apple’s way of doing things is not really Valve’s way of doing things, specially since Apple is a “patent troll” (as Nintendo calls it) where Valve is about open development. Just look at how Apple sued Samsung over the rectangular shape of their phones.

        If anything, they will try to make a custom PC to ease up optimization of some games or something like that.

      9. I think that they are going to make a wii U like controller, but instead it would be a cross between the smartglass and wii u tablet with buttons and touch screen function from wii U, and social pc interactivity from the smartglass, so they may make a gaming tablet. Or just a straight up xbox 360 controller for pc would be excellent!!!

        1. can’t the wii u gamepad do what smartglass does??? people can make it so there are social pc interactivity in the gamepad

          1. No, the difference is that wii U gamepad is used to control games, and the smartglass is to look at stuff on xbox live on the go and also function as a tablet it isn’t meant to control games at all.

        2. The 360 is comfortable, but insanely flawed. And besides, you can connect a 360 controller to a PC amd play games using it anyway

          1. How is it “insanely” flawed? I know the the dpad is terrible, its the only dpad that decides to move bottum right when your trying to move up, but that’s not much of an issue since most games use the analog sticks to move. Its basically the saame as a ps controller, or a gamecube contoller.

            1. Ahem….

              The triggers have to much delay to really work effectively, the bumpers are flimsey and lose their click fast, the face button get stuck often, the analogs are too slidey, and precision is bare impossible, and yes, that dpad

          2. eh, the 360 controller is fine bar the D-Pad.

            I think the only reason Sony sticks with their controller design is because it’s pretty much universally liked whereas every Nintendo controller seems to have it’s share of fans and haters. Maybe they’ll change it eventually, though I doubt they’d do it anytime soon

          3. Are you really that retarded ? how is it insanley flawed ? its comfortable and has good buttons ..the wiimote however LMFAO !!

        1. This video sums up how it would feel for PC elitists if Valve went over to Wii U. Sadly I don’t think this will happen :/

            1. Hmm, why did you post it here? But nontheless. This is what Steam leaving PC for Wii U would feel like to PC elitists, but if it really is you I would like to hear the story about that kick. By the title to judge if it was you being kicked it seems like you did something bad before and if that was the case… Well, schoolyard rules.

              1. we was playing baseball in our boxers {dare by my sister} and my brother the kicker throw the ball and i hit him and it nail him in the crotch. we had to take him to the doctor

                1. Wow, you guys seem to have the hard kind of brother love for each other… But really, the title and everything made it look like “Revenge of the nerds”. But still, why post it here?

        1. hi there yes the tablet controler will help out a lot like games bat man for wii u zombi u mario u zelda for wii u nintendo land for wii u and will help you out when there is a zombi and says too update your scanner

        1. hi there yes pc gamers want graphics they end up giving up tablet controlers like wii u i will take tablet gaming controlers over pcs gamming becuase i am a sci-fi futuristic gamer and are not compatable with non spefic action figer

        2. So ? good graphics are good , we have good graphics while you play ur inferior piece of shit and pc actually has controllers available too and runs very smoothly , Wii is garbage LOL

      10. the qwerty keyboard and mouse havnt been replaced/up graded LOL so whaTS A WIIMOTE AND A NUNCHUCK VALVE SHUT UP WITH THE FAKE CORE NONSENSE TYPICAL INDUSTRY DUMB

        what you really mean is sony and ms likely to bow out so we can build a valve braned console pc with some court room hack job keypad and some kinda fast mouse declare its CORE becasuse you say so and get sales as nintendos wiiu is unchalenged lol valve

      11. nintendo been upgrading the controls since the beginning of time valve are full of it ,,,,they see a gap coming in the market with Sony near bankrupt and ms sodomizing there game division all the time and think hell we shall market it as HARDCORE TO THE MAX MOTHER F&&KER CONSOLE PC talk a load of crap do what nintendos already doing then fart sniff it enjoy its smell then sniff each others farts enjoy that to and watch IDIOTS buy it because they think doing so IS HARDCORE GAMING lol @ that crap

        lets watch valve do a stylus and touch pad control claim it a innovation then lets all watch hardcore guy use and confirm that its SOOOOOO CORE thden put are hands up wait for the yes you sir whats your question and simply aske BUT WEN NINTENDO DID THIS ON DS YOU SAID IT WAS CASUAL AND WHEN NINTENDO DID THIS WITH Wii YOU AGIAN SAID IT WAS CASUAL your making a pick up and play mouse system that nintendo already did so because it has vavle on the box its NOW SUDDENLY HARDCORE

        i can see this unfolding exactly like this the industry is full of clowns

      12. This will blow the wii u out of the water , lol the wii U is a joke of a console and is only directed to soccer moms and kids …Nintendo arent releasing a NEXT GEN console cause their a bunch of fat liers , Btw the UNation is a fat virgin that sits on his fat ass and plays kiddy nintendo shit and eats up every mistake nintendo does cause hes a nintendo dick rider.

        1. yes we all know you have issues with nintendo winning the console war and have to mouth off to somehow try and stop what you already know has happened

          isnt it funny wii made more cash than ps1 ps2 and psp combined 3/4/5 times over and ps3 lost more cash than ps1 ps2 ps3 and psp ever made again many times over isnt it funny every self proclaimed core gamer (really ms or sony fanbitch) claims to be core and nintendo doomed and that nintendo is kiddy casual or whatever else they make up in there fanbitch wisdom

          funny these very people enjoy d-pads and analog sticks and rumble pads and shoulder buttons yet claim nintendo is dumb casual kiddy doesnt know what its doing

          YET THEY STILL GAME ON NINTENDOS CONTROLLER INNOVATIONS THAT WOULDNT EVEN EXIST WITH OUT THEM AND EVERY TIME THEY HACK A SYSTEM ITS NINTENDOS GAMES THEY PLAY ON THEM COULDN’T MAKE UP THESE CLOWNS

          1. Oh god you make me laugh , Nintendo was only good back then are they good NOW ? and you’re seriously using the sales argument ? Okay tell me which is better 360,ps3,wii ? tell me …LMFAO !! Wii is the shittest out of the bunch and most of the people i know that own a wii regret buying it.

      13. a real gamer not a INDUSTRY CORE

        the wiiu isnt next gen,,, oh ok il cancel my pre order then, some anti nintendo industry dudes plastered the net with anti nintendo propaganda and some fanboys lapped it up aeolus being one of them ,so it must be true and i as a informed gamer from 1980 and a massive cash maker in nintendo shares should heed these HARDCORE informed wornings and wait for ps4 and its 19996 control pad the daulshock OK WHAT EVER U SAY LOL

      14. a real gamer not a INDUSTRY CORE

        i bet aeolus thinks the wii remote and chuck and the gamepad are gimmics and the pro pad is core dont giggle when his around its unfare L-TLF-F-F-O-L

        1. Wii Remote was only a gimmick and didnt revolutionize anything ..everyone still preferred the button controllers and the wii u game pad will end up the same way

          1. casuals fps on twin sticks thats fact

            a gimmic so a mouse pointer thats 1mm presice and allows point mouse controls is a GIMMIC ok so you clearly play FPS with twin analogs u just admitted this fact indirectly in your post so you scoll a fps as if its a web page and as you camera control it moves robotically and in blocky jolts as if its robocops head and when you aim you have to keep scolling the analog stick across the screen like a smartphone user on the internet

            instead of point and aim in real time with a realistic 3 dimintional camera and a natural fps mouse like aim

            yes of course it was a gimmic IDIOT

      15. Sounds interesting. It is logical for them to consider Ninten if they want a distinct and unique controller for their games and services.

      16. let me get tisi str8 in my head wii motion plus is 1600 degrees per second lag free motion controls and can mimick any golf club in a golfers bag. and any real time physics of the human hand etc,,,combined with a mouse pointer and rumble and sound feed back ITS A GIMMICK lol keep telling yourself these outrageous things as you software assist your QUICK SCOPE in COD AUTOAIM = CASUAL = TWIN ANALOGS

      17. core gamers use mouse CASUAL GAMERS use twin analog sticks

        definition of mouse>>>> PC mouse// wii remote/ lag free single touch touch screens DS DSi 3DS wii WIIU

        walks away whistling

      18. A software company releasing a control is amazing!
        Not only would you have more affordable pricing for consumers (the price of a controller > entire console), if the control is well designed it would allow for many unique ways to play games. with a popular company like steam, i think its a brilliant move!

      19. Pingback: Valve confirma que está trabajando en un proyecto de desarrollo de hardware

      20. Hi, I really believe what you said, PC gaming doesnt have advanced much in gamepads and conecting the tv 40´ to the pc. For me is obvius they (Valve) are going to make that revolution.

        After all right now the present console gen (xbox 360 and Play 3) are a problem: they dont have actualizated hardware and that means lees quality graphs, less big story, less cuality gameplay, interaction with the world, phisics and AI.
        And since PC lacks generalization of controls ( and good ones with vibration and movility for car games) and easy installation of them (that can be solved with good software and good gamepads), also the use of TV instead of the pc monitor is not common and much people can think is dificult or doesnt know that much GPU have that options or configurating it. And finally the fact that people still thinks PC gaming is expensive, because theres not much info htat explain you that if you want you can have for 200 dolars a decent GPU that with a normal pc can give you like 4 or 5 years of gaming in differents graphics settings (more with the actual games that doesnt push much, lot of them have a 260 gtx as recomended lol), and the fact that installing or make your CPU choice is easy and can be more easy with guides of what to buy or ready to play for different types of budgets.
        So since many plataform players dont go to pc or have boths because the product doesnt include them in some really necesary features (i still have the trauma of jump in a action/adventure game with keyboard) the developers still need to create plataforms games (im talking of XBOX 360 and Play 3) games cant inovate much (because make for example awesome dinamics with the enviroment in a relative moderate graphics can be and is to much for the consoles).
        So if they change the external hardware of the pc and make more easy to install and configurate that hardware, in other words if they make it to be 2010s technology and not lame 1990s, we will have the power of the actual hardware with the gameplay offert of the gamepads, etc and that will mean we will have: great graphics, more optimization for pc (more resources for this and in overall is much better than before right now), bigger games – not necesarilly but -, more interactive games, more detailed in interaction with enviroment , better phisicis and of course betters AI. And since they will be working just in pc they will go with the constant change that mekes every year brutl improvements in graphical and general games capacity that the gpus introduce, instead than a technology that dont change for lots of years. And finally the same gamepads, etc will become more and more evolutives because they will be a part in the pc technology race.
        Thanks for reading this and sorry if my english is not the best.

      21. Woah this web site is amazing i adore examining your content regularly. Continue being within the terrific get the job done! You are already aware, a number of people need circular in this information and facts, you could support these folks significantly.

      Leave a Reply

      Discover more from My Nintendo News

      Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

      Continue reading