It's now much easier to find games on Steam that support PlayStation controllers
PlayStation controller use has quadrupled since 2019, say Valve
Steam has introduced a new way to spot which PC games support PlayStation’s DualShock and DualSense controllers, as well as being able to search by specific controllers.
The latest update to Valve’s PC marketplace adds handy tabs for DualShock and DualSense controllers to game pages, in the same way that games that support Xbox controllers have noted their support for a while now. There’s also an extra tab for games that allow use of the Steam Input API, which apparently supports over 200 extra controllers.
The store page marker has been made a bit more detailed too, with game pages now specifically whether games have “Full” or “Partial” support for each Xbox and PlayStation controller - with Full meaning you can do everything in a game with a controller and Partial meaning you might still need to use a mouse and keyboard for a few things, or that a game might not have custom on-screen button prompts and so on.
On top of the nice visual reference, Steam has also updated its Controller-Friendly hub and general Store search to let you filter games by support for specific controllers or that are developed with controller support in mind. Similar filters and information boxes have been added to the Library tab, so you can just jump into a game you already own that has support for the controller you’re using. The updates are also in Big Picture mode, which makes sense as my preferred way to browse around Steam with a controller, and will default to your most recent controller.
Valve dropped some interesting stats about controller use in their blog post running through the update, including the fact that around 12% of all Steam players “regularly” use a controller - which goes up to over 80% of players for what they hilariously refer to as “popular ball sports games” (ie. FIFA and football games, I’m assuming) and more than 50% for “popular punishing RPGs”, which I’m going to guess means Soulslikes.
Unsurprisingly, Xbox rules the roost when it comes to controllers on PC, taking the lion’s share with over 60%. PlayStation controllers make up just over a quarter, which I’m honestly fairly surprised by given the relative lack of easy support, despite things improving in recent years - Valve noted that this time four years ago, Xbox controllers made up over three-quarters of controller use, while PlayStation was less than a fifth. PlayStation controller use specifically has apparently quadrupled in that time in terms of number of sessions, with over three billion game sessions using any type of controller in the last year compared to around 990 million in November 2019.
Some of Xbox’s lead has also been eaten by the release of Valve’s own Steam Deck, which they bundle under the remaining share along with Nintendo's Switch Pro controller and various other devices.
The controller updates are live now, so you can go forth and use your DualSense and DualShock in whatever ball sport game, punishing RPG or, I don’t know, just Vampire Survivors or something.