Valve didn't stand idly by in the face of the rapid depletion of its new Steam Controller. It went on sale on Monday and sold out in the blink of an eye, leaving many fans empty-handed and frustrated by payment problems.
To solve this and combat scalpers who are already offering it at much higher prices on eBay, the company announced that this Friday at 1 PM ET it will open a reservation system. This way, anyone who missed their first chance will be able to sign up to buy one when they are back in
stock.
“While we were happy to see such a high level of interest, the experience for many of you trying to purchase it was incredibly frustrating,” Valve acknowledged in its statement.
How the booking queue works
Once you open the booking queue, you'll be able to save your place in the queue. When the controller is available again, they will send you an email in the same order in which you signed up. You'll have 72 hours to complete your purchase and you'll only be able to purchase one per account.
To participate, your Steam account must be in good standing and have made a purchase before April 27. Also, for now, if you've already purchased a Steam Controller, you won't be able to pre-order another one
.
Valve will start fulfilling reservations next week in the United States and Canada, and in the following weeks in the United Kingdom, the European Union and Australia.
The objective is to improve the experience
.
The company clearly seeks to improve the buying process and limit the activity of resellers who take advantage of high demand. The Steam Controller went on sale for $99 and many potential buyers didn't even complete the checkout before it sold out.
This reservation system is reminiscent of the one they used with the original Steam Deck, although in that case it took them several months to clear the entire queue. For the time being, Valve has not yet given a firm date for the release of the Steam Machine and the Steam Frame, although they mentioned that they imported 50 tons of game consoles recently
.
Fans of the Steam ecosystem expect them to apply the same pre-order strategy to these future products to avoid the same frustration experienced this week.
In short, if you ran out of a controller on Monday, you have a new chance this Friday. You just need to meet the account requirements and keep an eye on the opening hours of the queue. Valve seems to have learned from the experience and seeks to allow more people to access the new controller without having to pay fortunes in the secondary market
.
The move shows that the company is attentive to the problems generated by the high demand for its hardware products and seeks solutions to prioritize real buyers over speculators.
