Steam Controller hype is building, as signs of the impending launch of Valve’s much-anticipated revival of one of its most-loved hardware launches have now been spotted twice in just a few days. Last week, we saw a huge shipment of “WIRELESS PC CONTROLLER[s]” delivered to Valve, and today, a listing for a Steam Controller unboxing video has been spotted on SteamDB.
Not only are both of these Valve Steam Controller leaks in such quick succession, but both come from reputable sources. The Steam Controller shipment leak was based on publicly available shipping documents, while this fresh unboxing rumor comes from what is effectively the official Steam database, and the entry is very clearly labelled. It’s not a sure-fire hint that we’re about to see the launch of what will hopefully prove to be one of the best game controllers around, but I have my hopes up.
Spotted by Brad Lynch on Xcancel, and still available to view now, the SteamDB entry clearly shows a listing for a video with the filename steam_controller_unboxing_2026, and Lynch says he believes “Valve has ‘secretly’ uploaded a Steam Controller unboxing video.” So strong a hint does Lynch feel this upload is that he states, “I think we will see its launch very soon.”
SteamDB isn’t operated by Valve, but as it says right at the top of the site, “SteamDB is a free, independent database covering the entire Steam catalogue,” that is “kept current through fast, automatic updates.” So, if Valve has added a video somewhere on the Steam platform, there’s a good chance SteamDB has picked it up.
The listing shows the video as having been uploaded on April 20 at 21:22:26 UTC, and that the “controller_support” status of the upload is “full,” which of course is good to know.
In the top right of the listing are links to Stream, Launch, and Watch the video, but all three of these require a specific level of permission via your Steam account to log in.
Of course, just because 14 tons of controllers have been delivered to Valve and a Steam Controller unboxing video has been uploaded to Steam, it doesn’t mean that the Steam Controller is super imminent. We could still be looking at weeks or months until launch, but it’s a sign that, unlike the seemingly RAM-price-affected Steam Machine, the Steam Controller release is moving ahead at a pace.
