
PC is now a central pillar of Sony's PlayStation strategy, becoming more relevant daily. Evidence suggests that some PC Trophy support is in the offing, which is to say nothing of the lucrative new revenue streams the firm has found on platforms like Steam and, more recently, GOG.
Further proof of this phenomenon comes from Steam itself, which announced the Controller-Friendly Hub in a new update. This hub allows users to sort games by their preferred gamepad. Xbox controllers have long been the standard PC controller on the platform, but now, DualSense and Dualshock support are specifically denoted on individual store pages.
By default, Steam will filter by which controller you've used most recently, although users can specify by controller type. Valve helpfully shared some statistics that show how PlayStation controllers have been on the rise, with a 400% increase in usage over the last four years.
- There were over 3 Billion game sessions that included a controller in the past year
- 60% Xbox controller
- 27% PlayStation models
- The remaining % is made up of Steam Deck, Switch Pro, and hundreds of other controller models
- The same period four years ago (ending Nov 2019) had 990 Million controller sessions
- 76% Xbox controllers
- 19% PlayStation controllers
- During these four years, PlayStation controllers saw a 4x increase in sessions
Do you use your DualShock or DualSense while playing on PC? Are you surprised to see the growth of PlayStation controllers on PC platforms? Use the correct input method in the comments section below.
[source steamcommunity.com]
Comments 19
The era of exclusivity is coming to an end - I feel it in my bones. XBox Live and Steam Support will be here by the time of the PS6. Only Nintendo will remain it's own island.
Triple A game development has reached the stage where it is too expensive and too risky for one developer alone. How many times has a bad game sunk a company now? Forsaken springs to mind.
Nice il maybe upgrade I've Xbox 360 joypads to play on steam with.
@LifeGirl I think you mean the age of AAA games is over. Without first party and exclusivity there is no point to these show case pieces. The age of live service and gas games has begun. Gaming has becoming largely pointless grind sessions with little substance, with Nintendo being the last refuge.
Been using playstation controllers on pc since dual shock 3. Honestly the dual sense should be the defacto standard and I hope more pc games adopt it. Would be nice to see the sacred symbols added to other games in patches.
I bounce between using an Xbox and PS5 controller on PC and pretty much all the games I've played over the last couple of years have no issues with the PS controller, which hasn't always been the case. For some games I find the Dualsense much better, such as Alan Wake 2 as you have a dedicated map button on the touchpad, or for singing Karaoke in Like A Dragon as I always forget the Xbox button placement.
These days outside of exclusives, I play almost entirely on PC so I'm happy to see it supported much more
I recently got myself a gaming laptop and was so surprised how many games and platforms donβt have PS controller embedded as default. Imagine itβll happen eventually without the need of bespoke apps to make it happen but surprised itβs not common place yet.
i feel like iβm such a very tiny minority that can only use controllers on PC; had PC not had controller support id be SCREWED and stuck at the golden gates of the master race, so im glad ps is getting more controller support because i use both xbox and ps controllers depending on the game.
still bummed that iβll never be able to play the new counter strike or valorant though. keyboard and mouse sucks!
@NotSoCryptic But PlayStation still exist so why would exclusivity and first party die? Theyβre still making first party, live service is in addition.
Xbox Game Pass can exist on PlayStation platform in a curated way. PS games can go to Steam in a similar fashion that it does now.
Seems youβre being overly dramatic.
The controller that needs constant life support. I like the ergonomics and button feel, but it's the first PlayStation controller over all generations where I got stick drift and I had a beautiful ps1 style dualshock 4 that just stopped working all together. PS 1-3 was still tough quality.
@nomither6 feel the same, never want to return to k&m
Not experienced any stick drift with the DS4s but have to say, the DS5 feels cheap with fairly low quality plastics. and rough, harsh edges to the ill fitting case.
Just wish Sony would allow the DS4 to be used with PS5 games on The Tub o' Lard so I could store the uncomfortable DS5s away in their boxes.
Yeah, well, itβs all fine and dandy but some of these PC ports are still barely playable. The Last of Us is still a mess, for example. I switched back to PS5 as console gaming is still way more convenient in many ways. Also, the PC ports are still horrible whenever Unreal Engine is involved. Shader caching and stuttering are a constant issue (WRC 23 being a recent example). Maybe once UE5 becomes the golden standard things will improve.
Now itβs up to developers to include the button icons in their games
In a lot of ways PC gaming hasn't changed since I got out of it over a decade ago - forever fiddling with drivers and game settings to try and make things run smoothly. Can't be bothered, to be honest. Yes my eyes can tell the difference between 1080p SDR and 4K HDR but it's not the quantum leap going from 576i PAL to 1080p HD was 15 years previous, so consoles (a lot of which are rendering their games around the 1080p-1440p mark and upscaling to 4K anyway) are just fine.
I'll second anyone saying DualSense controllers aren't well made - they really aren't. Even from new the sticks feel cheap and have a weird phantom click when going back to centre from the edges, and they tend to have resistive trigger and drift issues even if you're not rough with them. Meanwhile I have a bunch of 20+ year old GameCube ones and they're fine.
@Jacko11 I suggest you exercise in a little more critical thinking and more data acquisition.
@NotSoCryptic I might frame this reply ππ
I suggest you exercise a little more common sense and reality driven thought.
@Jacko11 you should take your own advice before giving it.
@NotSoCryptic I did π₯΄ not the brightest you pal.
@jacko11 except you didn't.
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