Valve shares some basic controller usage stats on Steam (48m Steam players used a controller in a Steam game)

[medyej]

What on earth are you talking about? This is like the opposite situation. On PC of course mouse and keyboard has excellent support, it's usually the controller support that is lacking and why Steam has to have labels for "Partial Controller Support" and "Full Controller Support" because it is not a given that it will be there right out of the box. Hopefully this data will be used to convince devs to integrate better controller support as they learn that not everyone wants to play everything with a m/kb and that a ton of people still prefer a controller.

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I'm talking about the massive amounts of posts here everytime this topic comes up acting like m/kb is some outdated archaic scheme that only a crazy minority uses when these stats show us that even for third person action games more people still use m/kb. Look at the posts in this thread alone with everyone rushing in to say how they only use a gamepad and would never play with m/kb, it's a bubble and that's what these stats are showing. Which is why they might be surprising for some people who never get out of that bubble.

 

[Reinhard]

I'm surprised the Switch controller is so low. Fantastic battery life and works great over Bluetooth. Of course some of the misleading statistics is from people using 3rd party software that makes Dualshock 4 or Switch Pro Controller listed as an Xbox 360 controller. But I mostly use that software when playing non Steam games. I do find the haptic rumble to be "off" and way too strong when using Betterjoy.

 

[sredgrin]

I'm sure 3rd party software spoofs the numbers a bit, but there is a reason those are all emulating 360 pads, because it is so hugely widespread and popular in the first place (and it has like 5+ years of being a reliable option over even most of the other older ones on the list).

 

[Fuu]

Couch PC gamer here, so I'm adding to the stats by playing everything with an Xbox controller. It was a 360 model for years until this month, now it's a XS.

 

[NCR Ranger]

Most games are better with the kb/m, for the rest I bring out my DS4. I just use whatever controller is on hand so the dual sense will probably take its place in the future. The only games where controllers are my go to are racing games, only because I don't play them enough to buy a wheel, and console ports from Japanese developers, real easy to tell the vast majority of those games were designed with only a controller in mind.

 

[NattyBo]

No controller support is almost an automatic no buy from me unless it's a very specific genre I prefer with KBM, like XCOM.

 

[fourfourfun]

I'm impressed to see the stats though, I thought controller usage would be much lower, especially as - more than likely - people will always have a KB&M, but not necessarily a controller. They've gone out of their way to buy it as an input device.

As experience becomes a larger driver in people's lives and they look to detach from towers and desks, this could easily continue to grow. Especially with things being multiplatform and generally designed around the most common input device.

 

[UltraJay]

I looked at our two most recent games, Cosmic Star Heroine and Cthulhu Saves Christmas, and both of them had about 40% gamepad usage. Which means that about 60% of players played them using the keyboard. That really surprised me since they're retro-style turn-based JRPGs.

Speaking of which, are there any good turn-based JRPGs on Steam that use KB+M controls well? If most people are going to play without controllers, we should probably work on adding mouse support & making our games control better if you don't have a controller.

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Even though I mainly play it with gamepad, Trails in the Sky has a great KB+M interface since it originally released there. Full mouse control on menus, click-to-move, etc.

One thing I would add is make it so that you can easily switch back and forth seamlessly. I tend to do that a lot. For example, if I have to spend a lot of time in menus I might switch to mouse only.

 

[Iron Eddie]

I guess they like aiming with a device that doesn't suck ass at it?
Most "3D games" are also third person shooters (partially or totally).

EDIT - Since everyone is mentioning their own habits: I switch between keyboard and mouse, PS4 controller, XBox 360 controller and flight stick (Thrustmaster 16000T something) pretty much on a game-by-game basis.
For anything first person the controller is an absolute no go, when it's third person it strongly depends on the type of game and how it feels specifically.

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The mouse moves your character on the x axis too in most games.

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I love using the mouse in games like Diablo but for shooters you use the mouse to aim your shots, yes that is much better than the sticks but controlling the movement of your character using WASD is the part I don't like.

 

[namelesstwo]

I love using the mouse in games like Diablo but for shooters you use the mouse to aim your shots, yes that is much better than the sticks but controlling the movement of your character using WASD is the part I don't like.

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I do understand that controllers are more intuitive for 3rd person games for a lot of people but I'm way too used to the mouse both moving the character left/right *and* adjusting the camera at the same time. Whereas with the controller you have to move your thumb to the right stick to move the camera.

 

[turbobrick]

I'm sure 3rd party software spoofs the numbers a bit, but there is a reason those are all emulating 360 pads, because it is so hugely widespread and popular in the first place (and it has like 5+ years of being a reliable option over even most of the other older ones on the list).

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Yeah. Everyone I know that uses a controller on PC still uses an Xbox 360 controller. 10 years ago or so it was one of the best that just worked on PC. Most people have zero reason to buy a new one if it still works. I only upgraded to an xbox one controller because of the better d-pad.

In fact, you can still buy wired xbox 360 controllers directly from Microsofts website and they're only $40

 

[Slick Butter]

SCUF sued them for putting paddles on the controller, so it's unlikely. A new model is the only reason I sold mine, and now I'm regretting it.

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ah yeah, good point. what a shame