this post was submitted on 15 May 2026
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That's the puck that is made in China. It's a separate product with a different product ID. So that is not a proof the Controller is made in China, especially because VALVE has a facility to build the first Steam Controller in US. Most likely smaller parts are made in China, but the Controller might be assembled in US, in VALVEs own full automated facility. I'm guessing here, but we have no proof right now.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/306939718599
The photos in this listing show the retail box. It’s China alright
I have the box myself. You are right, it says designed by VALVE and assembled in China. I didn't think of checking the box, only looked at the controller and on the controller itself it does not say where it is made in for some reason.
Well there it is then.
They were shipped into the US from Hong Kong according to a cargo manifest from the 4th of April, so probably manufactured (or at least assembled) in East Asia.
I would assume the controller is made in US. The original Steam Controller 1 from 2016 is build by Valve, they have their own facility. I don't know if this applies to the new Controller too, but here is the video in question: https://youtu.be/uCgnWqoP4MM
When we first started designing hardware at Valve, we decided we wanted to try and do the manufacturing as well. To achieve our goal of a flexible controller, we felt it was important to have a similar amount of flexibility in our manufacturing process, and that meant looking into automated assembly lines. It turns out that most consumer hardware of this kind still has humans involved in stages throughout manufacturing, but we kind of went overboard, and built one of the largest fully automated assembly lines in the US. Our film crew recently put together a video of that assembly line, showcasing exactly why robots are awesome.
Here's that showcase, where you can watch controllers being built entirely by robots. We aren't crazy though, so humans are still on hand to keep the robots from becoming sentient.
That was 10 years ago. Since then Asia has gotten a lot better at manufacturing. Virtually all electronics are manufactured there now.