Steam PlayStation integration coming in major new update

A new update for Steam will be introducing additional integration with PlayStation hardware, rolling out next month.

Recently, Valve released a new blog post outlining some of the changes developers can expect to see on Steam in the coming weeks.

Starfield is available on Steam right now, check out our review below.

One of these changes will be greater transparency on whether games support controllers, specifically PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 DualSense controllers. Developers who aim to publish their games through Steamworks will now be asked if their game supports Sony’s hardware, which will then be conveyed to would-be-consumers on the store pages.

While PlayStation controllers often work fine on Steam games, albeit without the correct button prompts, integration with PS5 controllers would be a major game changer, especially when you consider their stand-out features.

The haptic feedback and the adaptive triggers are the only ones that matter during gameplay, as they offer players a more immersive experience, providing resistance to the trigger when firing a weapon or rumbling at the appropriate level for what’s happening in the game.

Since Microsoft’s various Xbox controllers lack these features, PC developers who program their titles to take full advantage of the PS5 controller could then use that as a selling point on their Steam page. It makes additional sense when you consider 27% of Steam users who use controllers rather than mouse and keyboard play with PlayStation controllers, rather than Xbox.

Additional controller support features mentioned in the blog include: “Updates to store page area that displays controller support to also specify the level of PlayStation controller usage, updates to some browser pages to make it easier for players to find new games that support their controller device well, updates to the Steam Desktop client to indicate a game in your library has PlayStation controller support, [and] updates to the Steam Desktop client to make it more clear when a game requires use of a controller to play.”

The update is expected to roll out sometime in October, though a specific date hasn’t been given as of yet.