valve It recently revealed its upcoming slate of hardware, which includes standalone Steam Frame VR headset, a new Steam controller, and most importantly, a revamped rendition of the Steam Machine, the follow-up to the company's failed console-PC hybrid from 2015. With this new technology, Valve looks to gain an even stronger foothold in the gaming hardware market, expanding on its already successful DickWam position.
Much ink has already been spilled about the steam machine; Less has been said about the Steam Controller, which looks like an equally significant upgrade over its predecessor. 2015's Steam Controller was ambitious and inventive, but bogged down by cheap, awkward, and vague design choices. For example, it featured only one joystick and two clickable trackpads—an unnecessary and odd deviation from the industry standard of two joysticks. As was typical of Valve's devices at the time, the Steam Controller was never widely adopted, and its general popularity faded after a few years. The upcoming Steam Controller looks like a huge improvement, following the design philosophy of the ergonomic Steam Deck, while remaining consistent with traditional button and joystick placements. However, there is one glaring, annoying omission.
Why the new Steam controller is missing a 3.5mm audio jack, and why that matters
3.5mm audio jacks are becoming less popular in the tech industry
The 3.5-mm audio jack, often colloquially known as the headphone jack, is slowly disappearing from modern consumer devices, especially entry-level technology like the Apple iPhone. Some companies, including Apple, offer deals such as adapters to bridge the gap between old and new hardware, but this is also becoming less common. Finally, contemporary devices are becoming more and more dependent on Bluetooth audio, which has a rather convenient advantage for companies like Apple and Sony, which sell proprietary Bluetooth audio devices, with high price tags justified by their Bluetooth functionality.
Audio jacks can come in different sizes, such as 2.5mm and 6.35mm, but 3.5mm is the most common, especially in modern gaming hardware.
So, there's the profit motive involved, but there are also some legitimate reasons to leave the 3.5mm jack in the past. For example, audio jacks take up internal device space—they're not just holes that lead to nowhere—and freeing up this space can help accommodate new hardware features. Many tech companies have also argued that the inclusion of a traditional audio jack hinders durability: water, dust and general debris can enter the device through the jack, which is especially pressing as water-resistant devices become more common.
Why you should care about the Steam Controller's lack of a 3.5mm audio port
But oddly enough, this trend hasn't extended much to the gaming world: the PS5's DualSense, the Xbox Series X|S controller, the Steam Deck, and the Nintendo Switch 2, released just this year, all have the classic 3.5mm audio jack. It's a bit odd that Valve would lead the charge in this area, especially considering how flexible and versatile the Steam deck is. Notably, the Steam Machine doesn't even include a 3.5mm jack, which is particularly confusing since it's presented as a suitable replacement for a desktop computer; Any PC case worth its salt has a 3.5mm jack.
Players will still be able to connect Bluetooth audio devices to the Steam Machine, but this is an unnecessary hurdle: many gamers, especially those who consider themselves audio enthusiasts, shy away from Bluetooth due to its latency issues, which can cause audio to be slightly out of sync with its respective display. Furthermore, anyone who hasn't adopted Bluetooth audio, especially for surround sound that doesn't always feature Bluetooth, may need to purchase a new audio setup, or at least a new pair of headphones. It may have been a long time coming, but any traditional audio jack on Steam's new hardware lineup is still a bummer.
