Steam Controller Prototype Dating Back Over Ten Years Found At Goodwill

The original Steam Controller went through countless iterations before Valve landed on the 2015 design, which gradually started to resemble something more familiar to an Xbox controller or DualShock. Though it only had one joystick, for some reason.

One of those early prototypes—Chell, named after the Portal protagonist—featured two circular touchpads on either side, with a grid in the middle flanked by the Y, B, X, and A buttons. It’s easy to see why Valve ditched this concept, as it was far less ergonomic, with awkward button placement that would have clashed with everyone’s muscle memory. Nonetheless, a few of the prototypes were manufactured, and have been found in thrift stores over the years by a few lucky Valve enthusiasts.

“I Can Agree About It Being Inferior To The Final Product”

Just this weekend, Reddit user Waste-Set5032 stumbled across one of these rare Steam Controllers. “This is dope to me,” they said, adding that their dad found it in a Goodwill. “I, as a teenager, wasn’t around for peak Valve, so finding things like these really interests me.” For anyone not in the States, Goodwill is a non-profit store that sells donated clothing, furniture, and other goods at discount prices.

Four years ago, Reddit user Creepy-Boss-705 also grabbed a Chell prototype in an eBay auction, and even tested a few games with it.

“I’d say the weirdest thing when it comes to this controller is the lack of data regarding of its functionality [sic] after the retail version came out,” they explained, noting that they prefer the touch pads on the Chell prototype compared to retail. “I’m still surprised that Steam recognizes it at all. So far, Steam thinks it’s a normal [Steam Controller]. The four middle buttons corresponds to the joystick, so mapping them isn’t a problem, albeit weird for me. I can agree about it being inferior to the final product, but I haven’t really done much with anything that uses gyro.”

Looking at the incredibly awkward ridged circles and unmarked buttons, it’s hard to imagine the controller being much more than a novelty—playing through Dark Souls 2 with the official 2015 version was painful enough. Chell looks like it’d be functionally impossible to beat the game with. But it’s a piece of gaming history, so it’s fascinating to see one stumbled upon in the wild all these years later.