Steam Confirms That It Will Soon Bring Native Support For PlayStation 4's DualShock 4 Controller

The Valve Corporation has confirmed that it is adding DualShock 4 support for its Steam games for the PC. Currently, the only way to play Steam games using the PlayStation 4 controller is through third-party apps.

“Believe it or not, when you use the PS4 controller through the Steam API, it’s exactly the same as a Steam Controller. You make the exact same API calls, you only get actions, not inputs, and the Steam API takes care of everything,” Valve’s Jeff Bellinghausen said in his presentation during the Steam Dev Days conference (via Gamasutra).

“Now, why start with the PS4 controller? Well, not only is it a really nice, high quality controller, but it’s also got a gyro and a touchpad, so it’s got a lot of overlapping functionality with the Steam Controller.” Bellinghausen also confirmed that similar support for other third-party controllers are incoming, but Valve isn’t ready yet to announce which ones.

Once Valve releases this update to the Steam Controller API, developers would be able to easily integrate DualShock 4 support to their games. PC gamers, on the other hand, will no longer need third-party apps to emulate keyboard controls with the PS4 controller. The most popular apps right now are Joy2Key and DS4Windows.

Another added advantage here is that all of the DualShock 4’s buttons, including the touchpad and gyroscope, will be usable without any additional customization, as pointed out by Engadget. Bellinghausen also gave a comprehensive presentation on the Steam Controller and upcoming updates to its API. He said that the company has already sold nearly 1 million units, and that they expect to cross the 1 million mark by early next year, according to VG24/7.

This past August, Sony released a Bluetooth adapter dongle to bring DualShock 4 support for Windows PCs and Mac computers. However, that solution was mostly for allowing users to play games on PlayStation Now, Sony’s own game streaming service that's available for the PC.