Hello all, I'm looking to buy 4-8 controllers for some couch coop games and haven't found any clear winners so far. I'm leaning 2.4Ghz as I've heard problems about bluetooth controllers disconnecting on the steam deck and always appreciate less latency. I also don't need any fancy features like gyro or touchpads, just the generic xbox-like style would be great. Also my last problem is that every one I've found requires a dongle per controller, to which I'm wondering if 4-8 dongles next to each other would cause interference?
In essence: if anyone has recommendations on controllers for couch coop games on the steam deck where the main priority is connection stability, it'd be much appreciated!
I've been using the 8bitdo ultimate but I've had a few issues with it over time. For starters the rb button sticks, which I've been able to work around using the back paddles, but it's still not ideal. Recently though I've had a few games misinterpret the buttons, playing through animal well the a and b buttons performed the same action so I had to get my old 360 wired controller out to play through it. Looking in the software (only available on phone and windows, no Linux support as far as I'm aware) showed no mismatch of setup or anything so no idea what's happening there. Playing death stranding recently also had issues, it was as if it was trying to switch inputs from the controller to m+kb constantly.
I have been using ps3 controllers on Linux for a couple of years now. They are dead cheap used but you might need to replace the batteries if you need to use them wirelessly. The drivers were included in popos, so plug and play basically. Just get a compatible bluetooth USB dongle, or maybe the deck already has Bluetooth? The original ps3 controllers are very sturdy and work reliably. I would still be using my old ps2 controllers, which are basically the same, but the usb adapters seem to brake way to often and wireless play is rather convenient.
Official Xbox series controllers are relatively cheap for their quality (~40 dollars on sale) and there is an official Xbox dongle that allows for the connection of I think up to 8 controllers with a pairing button. I have not tested this configuration extensively but I think the dongle handles a lot of the logic so it should work better with worse drivers. Also when setting up everything one must just press the pairing button on the dongle and on each controller to get everything setup.
Oh that's pretty cool, is the dongle supported out of the box or is there setup needed?
I have not tested it with the steam deck specifically but when I used it on another Linux device it was pretty much plug and play. If you do go this route make sure you get a genuine adapter. There is a lot of clones on amazon.
If your top priority is connection stability (and latency is right behind that), consider going wired with a USB extender and a big USB splitter at the couch-end. You'll save a bundle and the connections won't ever drop
