After reports that Valve had received shipments of the accessory, a Steam Controller review has appeared. Deleted ahead of a likely release date update, a YouTuber praised its responsive dual trackpads. Even so, the price may make it more difficult to discount the Steam Machine.
You are technically right in that Steam Input allows you to map every input for each game. But that’s an additional layer Steam provides over the game. It’s not the game natively supporting the controller itself like you get with the console maker’s controllers. Ever notice how many games don’t have proper icons for Steam Controller? Or how in game trackpad support is almost non existent? Steam does all the work to make the controller work and it’s great, but it’s not the same as the game natively supporting the controller.
What you’re saying is entirely correct: Steam Input not the same thing as maybe in-game support. Steam Input is usually better.
With Steam Input, I can customize it to do anything I want:
Ain’t no game ever going to give you that level of control.
Steam Input has spoiled me to the point that I barely ever game on my gaming desktop. Steam Input trumps a 32" 1440p screen with higher fps and graphics settings. It’s that important to me that I’d rather play on a 7" screen with 40 fps.