Been a bit of a week for the Steam Controller, ‘ey? It launched earlier this week sans console, only for Valve and everyone else to find that it pretty much immediately sold out. Tech scarcity? Who could have seen that one coming, even for something as simple as a controller! That then resulted in some naughty people flogging them on eBay for at least double the price, but worry not intrepid purchaser, for Valve have shared details on how they plan to dole out the controller going forward.

“Steam Controller launched on May 4th, and while we were happy to see such a high level of interest, the experience for a lot of you trying to buy it was incredibly frustrating,” Valve explained in a Steam blog post. “We plan to continue replenishing stock as we get more in, but in the meantime wanted to share changes we’re making to improve the purchase experience and to limit reseller activity.”

Those plans are, starting from May 8th, 10am PT/1pm ET/6pm BST, to open up a reservation queue for the Steam Controller. As soon as you’ve put your name down, “your place in line will be saved.” When stock comes in, those that sign up sooner will get notified first via email that they can then make the purchase, with some important limitations.

For one, you can only buy one controller; no more scalping for you, Mr. Scalper! Also worth noting is that upon receiving your order email, you have 72 hours to make the purchase. You don’t want to know what happens if you don’t buy one in time (presumably nothing and you just have to join the queue again, but Valve didn’t say). Oh, and if you’ve already bought a controller, you can’t buy another one just yet.

Not only this, but your account must be in good standing, and you have to have made a purchase on Steam before April 27th, 2026. I’m looking at you, Mr. Scalper, you thought you could pull the wool over ole Valvey’s eyes, huh? Lastly, “replenishment of inventory will vary from region to region. We will start fulfilling reservations next week in the US / Canada, and UK / EU / AU in the following weeks.”

Good luck? I suppose? Not sure what you say in such situations.