Steam gets native PlayStation 4 controller support

Update 12/14/16: Steam support for the DualShock 4 is out of beta and officially in the client. The patch notes read:

Added Steam Configurator support for PS4 Dual Shock Controller. Enable in Big Picture settings Add/Test Controller settings. When enabled, PS4 controllers will have access to the same sort of customization/configuration support as Steam Controllers, including native API support. PS4 Controllers using this system can map the trackpad, gyro, buttons, etc. to keyboard, mouse, or x-input outputs and can make use of action sets, touch menus, radial menus, and so forth.

Original story: Valve is bringing native support for Sony’s DualShock 4 controller to Steam, Valve’s Jeff Bellinghausen announced at Steam Dev Days today. In a transcript of Bellinghausen’s talk posted to Gamasutra, the developer talked about the benefits of supporting the PlayStation 4 controller via the Steam Controller API.

“Believe it or not, when you use the PS4 Controller through the Steam API, it’s exactly the same as a Steam Controller,” Bellinghausen said. “You make the exact same API calls, you only get actions, not inputs, and the Steam API takes care of everything.”

That’s good news for PC gamers who might already be using a PS4 controller on PC, but need third-party applications like Joy2Key to emulate keyboard input or DS4Windows to emulate an Xbox 360 controller.

Bellinghausen noted that the DualShock 4 has “a lot of overlapping functionality with the Steam Controller,” thanks to the PS4 gamepad’s gyro and touchpad features.

“Also, existing native support for the PS4 controller on the PC is a bit weak; in this case Steam itself is communicating directly with the device so everything that’s nice and reliable,” Bellinghausen said.

Valve plans to support other controllers in the future, Bellinghausen said.