Valve is opening a reservation queue for steam controller on Friday, May 8 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. This movement comes after The controller sold out within 30 minutes of its release on May 4 and appeared on resale sites with margins ranging from 100% to 461%. The booking system aims to prioritize legitimate buyers and includes account restrictions to limit access by resellers.
Valve acknowledged the launch issues in a post on Steam, noting that while they saw a high level of interest, many users found the purchasing experience frustrating.
How Valve’s Steam Controller Reservation Queue Works
Once reservations are opened, users enter a queue and are assigned a spot based on the order in which they booked. When stock is available, order confirmation emails are sent in the same sequence. Recipients have 72 hours to complete the purchase through Steam after receiving the email. Each Steam user can reserve only one Steam Controller.
Customers who already received a Steam Controller during the May 4 launch are not eligible to pre-order another at this time.
Steam Anti-Scalper Requirements for Steam Controller Reservations
To prevent resellers from creating new accounts to flood the queue, Valve has set two requirements for accounts. First, your Steam account must be up to date. Second, the account must have made a purchase on Steam before April 27, 2026.
These conditions exclude new accounts and those with no prior purchase history, which were primarily used for wholesale orders driven by resellers during the May 4 launch.
When will Valve start honoring Steam controller pre-orders?
Valve plans to begin fulfilling pre-orders next week in the United States and Canada. Bookings in the UK, Europe and Australia will be processed in the coming weeks. No specific delivery dates have been announced. The reservation system aims to address bots causing out-of-sales, but does not address underlying supply issues.
Valve has not provided a detailed production schedule or indicated how long it will take to clear the pre-order queue.
